The 1st Digital Transformation Megatrend Conference will be hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and KISDI on December 9.

The digital transformation era, and the type of digital co-prosperity society of the future desired by Korea’s citizens

o The 1st Digital Transformation Megatrend Conference was held on December 9 at the Seoul Post Tower under the theme of ‘2030 Digital Transformations: Redesigning the Future’. The event was hosted and organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lim Hye-sook) and KISDI (President Kwon Ho-yeol) in collaboration with the Korean Sociological Association, the Korean Political Science Association, the Korean Association for Public Administration, the Korean Association for Policy Studies, the Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences, and the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers. The event took a whole year to prepare.

o In session 1, 10 policies were proposed for 4 mega trends ▲ Comprehensive spread of platforms, ▲ Automation and diversification of labor, ▲ Hyper-personalization-customization, and ▲ Virtualization-convergence and digital transformation by 2030. In session 2, a blueprint for the future was proposed for a future digital society of cooperation and coexistence; while in session 3, a blueprint was proposed for a digital economy oriented towards innovation and prosperity.

o The majority of citizens opted for digital co-prosperity as the future vision for Korean society because they wanted to see the results of radical innovation distributed evenly throughout society, while viewing a society in which the privileges of the establishment are preserved as a future vision to be avoided.

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< 1st Digital Transformation Megatrend Conference >
○ Date: December 9, 2021 (Thursday), 10:00~15:40
○ Venue: Main conference room of the Post Tower /KISDI Broadcast online (http://kisdi-megatrend.com/)/Ministry of Science and ICT YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/withmsip)
○ Host: Ministry of Science and ICT
○ Organizer: KISDI
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On December 9 (Thursday), KISDI (President Kwon Ho-yeol) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lim Hye-sook) held the 1st Digital Transformation Megatrend Conference at the main conference room of the Post Tower. The live event was held in the hybrid offline/online format to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and could be viewed via the KISDI website (kisdi-megatrend.com) and the website of the Ministry of Science and ICT YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/withmsip).

So far this year, the Ministry of Science and ICT and KISDI have identified the digital transformations and megatrends for 2030, and issues in the four areas of technology, economy/industry, public administration, and society/regulations, and explored policy agendas related to those areas. The research on digital transformation and megatrends was conducted by the Korean Sociological Association, Korean Political Science Association, Korean Association for Public Administration, Korean Association for Policy Studies, Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences, and the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers in partnership with leading academic societies. Through a series of joint workshops and forums, experts from industry, academia and research institutions have been creating a future vision for digital transformation.

First, in session 1, Director Lee Ho-yeong of KISDI’s Digital Economy & Society Research Division talked about the four megatrends in the era of digital transformation in his keynote presentation titled ‘2030 Digital Transformation: Redesigning the Future’. In his discussions on the 27 topics researched jointly by KISDI and various academic societies, Director Lee advanced the premise that digital transformation will not result in greater polarization, but just a change, and that polarization is merely the outcome of the social routes taken by people. He then proposed the digital co-prosperity society as the vision of the future desired by the Korean people.

In November 2021, an online survey (Gallop)* was conducted on people aged 20-69 (2,626 samples) with predetermined numbers allocated by gender, age, and region. The survey results showed that a large percentage of the respondents (42%) viewed South Korean society as a ‘society where the privileges of the establishment are preserved’. If digital transformation continues to take place in the same way as today, 37.8% of the respondents said that the ‘digital co-prosperity society’ is the vision of the future that would become the reality, while 32.0% said that a ‘digital survival-of-the-fittest society’ would most likely become the reality. However, by selecting a ‘society where the privileges of the establishment are preserved’ (47.3%) and a ‘digital survival-of-the-fittest society’ (33.7%), the respondents signaled that while a future of the survival-of-the-fittest is probable, it is not the preferable future. By overwhelmingly selecting ‘digital co-prosperity society’ (62.3%) as the best vision of the future for South Korea, the respondents displayed a desire to live in a society that espouses innovation while sharing the fruits of growth with everyone.

In session 2, held on the theme of a ‘Digital future society of cooperation and coexistence’, the participants gave presentations on ‘Changes in the public sector paradigm in the era of digital transformation and redefinition of the roles and functions of the government’, ‘Changes in the public sector paradigm in the era of digital transformation and redefinition of the roles and functions of the government’, ‘Design of a cooperative governance model capable of responding to digital transformation’, ‘New opportunities and conflicts in the digital transformation society’, and ‘Future strategies in politics and diplomacy for the advancement of democracy in the era of digital transformation’.

As the first speaker of session 2, Professor Lee Soo-young of the Graduate School of Public Administration of Seoul National University talked about the possible directions to take in constructing the government systems of the future, and explored the possibility of introducing innovations to government services and that of resolving social issues.

In the next presentation, Professor Kim Hyun-joon of the Department of Public Administration of Korea University introduced a model of cooperative governance which could maximize the potential for innovation and growth in the era of digital transformation and overcome the crisis factors.

Next, Professor Choi Hang-seop from the Department of Sociology of Kookmin University gave a presentation on his predictions about the digital transformation society of the near future (2030) using numerous variables and scenario techniques, and then presented seven scenarios derived from his predictions.

As the last speaker of the 2nd session, Professor Jang Woo-young from the Department of Political Science of Daegu Catholic University explored the issues surrounding the digital transformation environment and the strategies, all from the perspective of innovation in democracy and the restructuring of international politics.

The final debate was moderated by Professor Choi Heung-suk (former Chairman of the Korean Association for Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Korea University) and led by the heads of various associations including Professor Park Soon-ae (Chairman of the Korean Association for Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Seoul National University), Professor Hong Hyung-deuk (Chairman of the Korean Association for Policy Studies, Department of Public Administration, Kangwon National University), Professor Chang Won-ho (Chairman of the Korean Sociological Association, Department of Urban Sociology, University of Seoul), and Professor Kim Nam-guk (Chairman of the Korean Political Science Association, Department of Political Science, Korea University). During the debate, the discussions focused on ways to design a future in which digital transformation will not hinder the development of the community by causing excessive polarization and social conflicts.

Session 3, held in the afternoon, explored “The Future Digital Economy of Innovation and Prosperity’. Presentations were given on ‘Competition policies for development of the platform economy’, ‘Changes in the industry/economy resulting from digital transformation and strategies for the future’, ‘Policies on technology/industrial innovation in the era of digital transformation’, and ‘Technology R&D strategies for realizing a sustainable digital economy’.

The first presentation of session 3 was given by Professor Hong Dae-sik of the Graduate School of Law of Sogang University. He explained the elements of the paradigm switch (at each stage of the paradigm change) in government policies towards competition necessitated by changes in the competitive structure of the platform market.

Next, Professor Kim Do-hoon from the College of Management of Kyung Hee University described the findings of his research on the quantitative effects of a servitization-oriented economy created through digital transformation, and described the socio-economic contributions of digital transformation.

Next, Professor Shin Yoan form the School of Electronic Engineering of Soongsil University predicted that digital transformation would become the new normal by 2030 and that new technology and industrial ecosystems would be in place. He then presented a model and policies for Korean style technology and industrial ecosystems that could become internationally competitive through hyper-collaboration.

Finally, Professor Cho Sung-jae of the Department of Software of Dankook University defined the following challenges that must be tackled in order to realize a sustainable digital economy: the need to conduct R&D on new digital technology and manpower training; the importance of securing the reliability of AI technology and expanding the use of AI fusion technology, and the importance of securing the reliability of digital data and technology for the safe utilization of data. He then spoke about the mid-to-long term digital technology roadmap and the planning of training programs designed to equip human resources with the ability to develop and use digital new technologies.

The final debate of the 3rd session was moderated by Professor Lee Hee-Jung (next Chairman of the Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, School of Law, Korea University), with the following specialists participating as panelists in the debate: Senior Research fellow Choi Gae-Iyong (KISDI Department of Digital Economy Research), Professor Kwon Nam-hoon (Chairman of the Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, Department of Economics, Konkuk University), Professor Kim Young-han (Chairman of the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences, School of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University), Professor Shim Kyu-seok (next Chairman of the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University).

This conference served as a venue for listening in to what leading academic figures have to say about the convergence of digital technologies and heterogeneous industries and its harmful effects, and the opportunities and challenges posed by the acceleration of digital transformation due to the COVID-19 crisis. Next year’s conference will also present (2nd year) digital transformation as its main theme.