KISDI (President Kwon Ho-yeol) organized the 2022 Korea Future Forecast Conference, which was broadcast online on December 9 (Thursday).

The topic of this year’s future outlook conference was ‘Listening Petition: The Voices of Citizens Gathered through Data’. Hosted by the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences (NRC), the conference was attended by experts from fourteen research institutes and outside agencies who made future predictions encompassing the humanities, economics, and society. Based on their predictions, the conference examined the current situation in South Korea and proposed a future strategy for the agenda and administration of the country in 2022.

In light of how digital technology could become an instrument for encouraging public participation in setting government policy and strengthening transparency in the establishment of policies, the conference included a listening petition session (data-based) in which experts listened to the opinions of members of the public so as to make the conference an effective channel for policy mediation.

The listening petition session covered the following three topics: Opinions of citizens as seen through Big Data (Civil Petition Information Analysis Division of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission), Data-based analysis of key national agenda (KISDI), and NRC data information system and research planning (National Research Council).

The 2022 Conference on the Future Forecast for Korea kicked off with an opening speech by Chairperson Jung Hae-gu of the National Research Council and a congratulatory speech by Chairperson Yoon Sung-roh of the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, followed by a welcoming speech by KISDI President Kwon Ho-yeol. The conference then proceeded with the opening ceremony, a series of keynote lectures, a special session on the listening petition, the global outlook, and the domestic outlook and, lastly, the final discussion.

Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang delivered the keynote speech on ‘The Digital Democracy of Taiwan’, while Chairperson Jeon Ui-chan of the Climate Change Subcommittee of the 2050 Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Commission gave a keynote lecture on the topic 'The Forecast for Carbon Neutrality in the Climate Crisis Era'. Vice-president Chung Seong-joon of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy also gave a lecture on the topic ‘The Global Economic Forecast for 2022’.

Audrey Tang, in particular, is regarded as a pioneer of digital innovation who successfully fought off the COVID-19 pandemic by exploiting data. Tang talked about the significance of digital democracy and examples from Taiwan. Chairperson Jeon Ui-chan explained how he thinks we should handle the climate crisis to ensure development that is both sustainable and environmentally-friendly.

In the global outlook session, the experts made predictions about how the security environment could change in the years to come as people experience significant changes in their working environment forced by the imposition of non-physical contact between people and as the platform economy continues to spread.

In the domestic outlook session, the experts made predictions about the status of domestic industry in 2022, starting with fifteen emerging issues to which close attention should be paid. They also presented their views on the educational paradigm in the era of hyper-personalization, the crisis of disappearing regional universities, the lives of young Koreans, and the adoption of sickness benefits.

Chairperson Jung Hae-gu of the National Research Council said, “Difficulties are piling up in all corners of our society because of COVID-19. I hope the Korea Future Forecast Conference can help us navigate our way towards a future of hope." He then added, "We are interested in using the ideas expounded at this conference as valuable backup data for policy studies conducted by research societies and research institutions."

KISDI President Kwon Ho-yeol said, "This is an important conference because we will hear experts discuss their ideas about the directions they believe the country should take in the future based on predictions that encompass all areas of the economy, humanities, and society, as well as input and opinions from the mouths of citizens".

To comply with the campaign to persuade people to practice social distancing more rigorously, the 2022 Conference on the Future Forecast for Korea was broadcast online at the official website of the conference (http://futureforecast.net) and the website of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences (http://www.nrc.re.kr). The presentation files from sessions 1 and 2 can be viewed at these two websites.