 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific II 2005 |
| Article no.: | 2 | |
| Topic: | The future of ICT in Korea | |
| Author: | Chu-Hwan Yim | |
| Title: | President | |
| Organisation: | ETRI, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Korea | |
| PDF size: | 80KB |
About author
Dr Chu-Hwan Yim is the President of ETRI, Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute. Dr Yim started his career at ETRI as a researcher. He spent most of his career there and rose through the ranks serving as the director of several departments, and as the Vice President of the Switching & Transmission Technology Division. Dr Yim left ETRI for several years to become a researcher at the Technical University Braunschweig, where he earned his PhD and to serve for three years as the President of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences. In parallel, Dr Yim is currently serving as the Honorary President of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences, the Chairman of 4G Vision Studies Committee of Mobile Communications, the VP of the Korean Institute of Information & Telecommunication Facilities Engineering, the VP of the Korea Intelligent Transport Systems, the Representative of the General Meeting, Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea and as a Committee Member of the Leading Technology Planning Advisory Group, Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST). Dr Yim has written five major technical publications, 70 national papers and 50 international research papers. He has managed a series of major research projects in the fields of TDX digital switching, ISDN, ICT standardisation and the development of Ultra-high Speed Super Highway System. Dr Yim received a number of prestigious awards including the Iron Tower Industrial Award from the President of Korea, the Ministry Award, Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), the Distinguished Service Medal, Korean Institute of Communication Sciences and the Information Technology Award, IEEK. Dr Yim earned his BS and MS in Industrial Education (Electronics) from Seoul National University and a PhD in Communications Systems from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany.
Article abstract
Korea has the world’s highest Internet penetration rate, with broadband in 76 per cent of all households. Sixty-nine per cent of the population are Internet users and 76 per cent of the population have mobile phones. ICT is fuelling Korea’s economic growth. In 2004, ICT accounted for 39.5 per cent of Korea’s exports and 14.2 per cent of the GDP. This is due to Korea’s aggressive ICT development policies. Korea’s new growth strategy, ‘ICT839,’ defines eight new ICT services, three infrastructures and nine new growth engines to drive future development.
Full Article
Korea became one of the most advanced countries in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by building the world’s best infrastructure for ICT services and achieving technological independence and progress in the ICT sector. Since the 1990’s, Korea has been a leading player in the global ICT industry by virtue of its strong technological background and capabilities. The development of related industries has also led to the creation of new business opportunities and value-added services. Korea has been leading the development of mobile communication technologies since commercialising the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology in 1996 and has held a leading role in the global semiconductor market by developing the world’s first high-capacity DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory). By the end of 2004, Korea had the world’s highest Internet penetration rate, with 12 million broadband subscribers (76 per cent of all households), 31 million Internet users (69 per cent of the total population) and 37 million mobile phone subscribers (76 per cent of the total population) based on the best network infrastructure in the world. The continued development of ICT and the industry is fuelling Korea’s economic growth. As of the end of 2004, Korea’s ICT exports accounted for 39.5 per cent of its total export volume, reaching US$100.3 billion, the highest among OECD member countries. The ICT industry has also shown steady growth, accounting for 9.5 per cent of the total GDP in 2000 and 14.2 per cent in 2004. The ICT industry is responsible for about 50 per cent of the GDP and export growth. Most Korean companies are benefiting from the expanding ICT industry in terms of microeconomics as well as macroeconomics, as the growth of the ICT industry has resulted in improved productivity and costs. Korea began developing ICT in the 1980s. Until 1985, Korea focused upon implementing ICT and building ICT R&D systems. In 1986, Korea developed its first fully electronic exchange called TDX-1 (Time Division Switching), optical transmission systems and 4M DRAM. In the 1990s, Korea recognized the importance of the ICT industry and began developing the technologies necessary for creating an information society. In 1991, Korea succeeded in developing TDX-10 and the TiCOM Mini Super Computer, followed, in 1993, by the development of the 16M DRAM. Korea led the development of core ICT from 1996 to 2002, starting with the first ever commercialisation of CDMA in 1996 and followed on with the development of the ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) in 1998, the year in which broadband services were put into commercial use in Korea. At present, there are various attempts to develop new services since the ICT market, particularly the broadband Internet and mobile phone sectors, is saturated. Korea has established a new growth strategy called ‘ICT839’ to lead the evolution of ICT and become a ‘Global ICT Leader’ in the future. ICT839 policy – the name refers to eight new services, three infrastructures and nine new growth engines – is intended to create a seamless connection between services, infrastructure and new growth engines. ICT839 aims to encourage businesses to invest in ICT systems that promote eight major services including WiBro (Wireless Broadband Internet), DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and W-CDMA (Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access). The strategy also encourages investment in the three backbone networks for these services: the BcN (Broadband convergence Network); USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network); and IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6). The strategy aims to enhance the competitiveness of the ‘nine ICT growth engines’ for services and networks by implementing a competition policy to encourage businesses to improve their quality. WiBro enables subscribers to access the Internet from their laptop computers or PDAs while on the move at cheaper rates than mobile phones. It is the equivalent of adding mobility to wired broadband services. Through a joint research project conducted by ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), Samsung and KT, Korea became the first country to develop and test the technologies in December 2004 and commercial services will start in 2006. The DMB service enables users to watch TV on their laptop computers, PDAs or mobile phones by using either S-DMB (Satellite-DMB) or T-DMB (Terrestrial-DMB). Commercialisation of these DMB services starts in 2005. Of particular note is the fact that T-DMB was accepted as the global standard at the 2005 World DAB Forum, while Korea plans to promote the new technology as a strategic product for export in the future. Telematics is an automotive multimedia service that provides traffic information and infotainment (information+entertainment) using mobile positioning and wireless communication networks. A pilot service will begin on Jeju Island in 2005 and, starting from 2007, about 30 per cent of the new cars sold in Korea will be equipped with a telematics system. Other new services including home networking, W-CDMA, terrestrial digital TV and VoIP will contribute to creating a more comfortable living environment and improving the quality of our lives by building mobile, home multimedia and two-way communication environments. The successful promotion of the eight service sectors will contribute to building the three key infrastructures. Building BcN (Broadband convergence Networks) for the integration of communication, broadcasting and Internet, USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) for ubiquitous computing and the IPv6 network for an unlimited number of Internet domains will result in an advanced infrastructure for digital convergence and ubiquitous computing, which will in turn fuel the growth of the ICT industry. BcN for integrated communication, broadcasting and Internet services with added security and quality will increase broadband speed by 50 times for the subscribers, from 1.5~2Mbps to 50~100Mbps. BcN will promote the growth of communication, broadcasting, digital appliances, and HDTV (High Definition Television) markets and create new services and content markets such as high-quality IPTV (Internet Protocol TV). USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network) will significantly improve convenience and efficiency in all market sectors including the distribution, logistics, postal and security services by replacing existing barcodes with electronic sensors that can be attached to just about anything to be connected to the Internet for data recognition and management. Pilot services are currently in use in the distribution and transportation markets and USN will be a feature of daily life by 2010. The eight new service sectors and three infrastructures are driven by the nine new growth factors including communication, broadcasting, information devices, software and contents. The nine growth engines are high-tech products selected after analysing the advantages and disadvantages of Korean ICT and products, as well as the prospects for ICT technological development and the global ICT market. Ensuring the competitiveness of these growth engines will result in improvements to the competitiveness of the services, infrastructures and exports. Along with the implementation of the ICT839 strategy, a number of indirect support policies will strengthen Korea’s position in the global ICT market. Korea plans to become an ICT hub in Northeast Asia by creating an ICT cluster to match that of Shanghai, China, and even Silicon Valley, in the USA. Korea plans to build an R&D centre in which global ICT companies will be able to carry out joint research projects by using its advanced infrastructure as a test bed for the development of core technologies. In order to catch a glimpse of the future that the ICT839 strategy aims to create, we must first understand the aims and objectives of the ICT of the future. The ICT of the future will create an infrastructure that meets all industrial needs such as online processing and services, recreational activities, welfare and educational improvements, personal and social activities, faster work processing based on intelligent industrial applications, virtual businesses, collaboration, e-commerce and large-scale data analysis and application. More specifically, ICT will improve the quality of ‘Digital Life Convergence’ by leading the convergence of businesses, networks and people. Traditional industries like automobiles, petrochemicals and shipping will utilize ICT to achieve added value, progress and convergence with other prospective technologies of the future. ICT are likely to enhance the quality of our lives by creating mobile offices through telematics, improving the efficiency of distribution through RFID and creating an e-Health, e-Learning and home networking environment. The convergence of ICT, BT and NT technologies will facilitate the development of other new and innovative, technologies while ICT will lead the convergence of technologies in all sectors. Some of the new systems facilitated by the convergence and fusion technologies will include biometric data systems (ICT+BT), intelligent nanoelectronic systems (ICT+BT+Materials) and bio-friendly materials (ICT+Materials). The ICT of the future will have a widespread impact on the medical, environmental, and social sectors. ICT will continuously create new industries. All of these will drive a series of changes in our social systems. Digital offices, digital homes, a digital society with intelligent transportation systems, welfare and education systems for improving the quality of our lives, energy management, as well as disaster and fire prevention will all be part of the future created by ICT. While technological innovation driven by ICT will bring many changes to industry and our daily lives, it will also intensify the technological warfare between nations. The rapid development of ICT will accelerate the proliferation of new technologies and gradually shorten the technology lifecycle, increasing the risk of investing in R&D. It means that the economic and strategic aspects of technological development will likely become important issues in ensuring competitiveness. It also means that we will need promotional strategies for both technological development and industrialization, as most countries are now concentrating their efforts on developing and obtaining core technologies. Korea is offering all-out government support to small and medium companies by building the ‘National Innovation System’, which will be used to improve the efficiency of R&D activities, strengthen international competitiveness by building an ‘ICT R&D Hub’, increase synergy between businesses, schools and research institutes through the promotion of joint research projects, and strengthen ICT development capabilities. Korea will promote the ‘ICT839 Strategy’ in order to develop related industries, create added value, strengthen the global competitiveness of key industries, achieve technological independence, promote digital life, reduce the digital divide and ultimately enhance public welfare. The 21st century is an era of total transition for all sectors of the economy, society and culture. Multiple demands are gradually being created and fulfilled in many different areas, and the quality of our lives is being greatly improved. Although the simple provision of information by television and the computer transformed industrial and social structures in the 20th century, the production and utilization of knowledge has become the determining factor for competitiveness in the 21st century. In other words, the world is now a knowledge-based society, and social development results from the creation and distribution of knowledge and information. The proliferation of information is leading digital convergence in all industrial and social sectors. At the centre of all these changes is ICT. ICT lies behind the improvements in productivity and the progress of key industries and growth engines. ICT has been breaking down the boundaries between countries and industries, facilitating the transfer of services, assets and products between countries, and accelerating the globalisation of economies. All developed countries are now focusing on strengthening their competitiveness in ICT, while continuing to expand R&D investment in ICT. The rapid development of Korea’s ICT industry is the result of multilateral efforts by universities, businesses, research institutes and the government. The cumulative and synergistic effects of their concerted efforts were the driving force behind Korea’s transformation into an advanced ICT user. With R&D support from Korea, the ETRI was able to establish a basis for ICT development. We are living in a world where we cannot survive on our own or do everything by ourselves. The importance of networking cannot be stressed enough in an international society where all computers are connected and all information shared. The ETRI is currently cooperating with many foreign countries in order to keep pace with the international trends, and plans to carry out more cooperative activities. Korea is currently making unprecedented advances in the global ICT market. While it may seem very risky for a small country like Korea to assume the role of a pioneer in the ICT industry, it is also a great opportunity for Korea to attract the attention of the world and demonstrate its capabilities in ICT. Furthermore, Korea is at the centre of global attention; many global ICT companies regard Korea as the best country both to develop new technologies and ICT services and to serve as a test-bed for the results. Pay close attention to Korea’s contribution to the development of the global ICT industry in the near future.
