Channeling the nation’s energies into promoting businesses centered on software and platforms and boosting demand for ICT convergence
S. Korea’s software sector leaves much to be desired. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), an American market research firm, the S. Korean software market makes up only 1-2% of the worldwide software market. Not a single S. Korean software company has made it into the global top 100 software companies. Unnerved by such a bad showing software-wise, the S. Korean government declared 2014 as the first year for the nation’s push for turning it into a software-centered society.
Against this backdrop, The Korea IT Times interviewed Lee Sang-hong, president of the Institute for Information and Communication Technology Promotion (IITP), a government-affiliated organization, to learn more about the current status of S. Korea’s ICT industry and the government’s action plans for the furtherance of the ICT industry.
Q: The ICT sector is integral to global businesses’ revenue generation and serves as the centerpiece of the government’s creative economy initiative. What kind of resolutions did the IITP make in order to make a breakthrough in the domestic ICT sector
Unfortunately, the odds seem stacked up against us. The global economy’s prolonged slowdown and the global ICT industry approaching maturity have stunted the growth of S. Korea’s major ICT products. However, obviously, the ICT industry had pulled the S. Korea economy through various economic hardships, including the 1997-98 Korean financial crisis and the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. The ICT industry has been playing the role of the eldest brother on the S. Korean industrial scene. Yet in the so-called new “nut cracker” situation, where S. Korean companies are pressed from below by cut-price, tech-savvy rivals from China, and squeezed from above by Japan’s weak yen, old ways of thinking and doing business will no longer lead to the generation of new revenues.
To survive such cutthroat international competition, S. Korea should become a first mover, not a fast follower, closely following changes in the global ICT environment, like global business based on software and platforms and a rise in demand for things related to ICT convergence.
To that end, the IITP, dedicated to ICT research and development (R&D), had assisted the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of S. Korea in drawing up the K–ICT Strategy, which was announced in March as the Park Geun-hye government’s first comprehensive blueprint for the development of ICT-related industries. The K–ICT Strategy aims to achieve 8% growth, KRW 240 trillion in production and USD 210 billion in exports by 2020.
Last March, the jobs of nurturing talent, laying the groundwork for projects and promoting standardization were transferred to the IITP (which was then mainly committed to the development of technologies), thereby making the IITP a government-affiliated organization handling the entire cycle of ICT R&D projects, from policy making, planning and evaluation & management to the diffusion of R&D results and commercialization.
In addition, in order to expedite the globalization of small- and medium-sized Korean ICT businesses, the IITP is set to swiftly provide support tailored to their needs by introducing new methods, such as the expansion of project idea contests and the adoption of a fast-track system and a rule that sees proposers and consumers as equals.
Q: S. Korea clearly excels in hardware but it is relatively weak in firmware, the combination of a hardware device and software. Thus many people believe that the launch of the IITP should have come earlier.
It is true that S. Korea’s industrial policy focusing on the development of hardware, such as semiconductors and displays, has resulted in the nation playing catch-up with its rivals in the field of software and ICT convergence. Hence we now badly need to sink our teeth into the advancement of the ICT convergence sector, which carries enormous ramifications for Korean industry.
Though the IITP was established in June 2014 under the MSIP to support the entire cycle of R&D projects, its job was initially limited to the development of technologies. However, since the tasks of nurturing talent, laying the groundwork and promoting standardization were transferred to the IITP in March 2015, the IITP has been emerging as a bonafide ICT R&D center, capable of backing the entire cycle of ICT R&D projects.
This doesn’t solely mean that the IITP’s business boundaries have been stretched. It means that the foundation for the IITP to create lots of synergy from the convergence of different R&D functions and areas and to efficiently furnish support has been laid.
In a bid to help transform the ICT sector into a catalyst for industrial convergence and innovations across the board, the IITP will facilitate cross-project connections and spread R&D results, therefore turning the Korean economy into an ICT-led creative one.
Q: The IITP’s push for the government’s “software-centered society” strategy is pretty much impressive. Could you elaborate on your support for Software Baeumteo (www.software.kr), which is part of the software-centered society strategy
Just like Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche said at CES 2014 that “cars are now running on software, not gasoline,” the world economy is fast gravitating towards software. Therefore, the IITP is forging ahead with its plan to offer computer programming courses to elementary, middle and high school students, as well as college students, with a view to nurturing creative, convergence-oriented software talent. First of all, to promote logical, creative ways of thinking and strong analytical skills among students, we are reinforcing computer programming in elementary and middle schools.
We are also increasing the number of schools offering practical, experience-oriented computer programming courses (on a pilot basis), specifically designed for young students. And we have been running software camps and pushing for the establishment of software meister high schools. What’s more, in line with the government’s push for creating universities and graduate schools dedicated to software and with the Seoul Accord (a multi-lateral mutual-recognition agreement among agencies responsible for accreditation or recognition of tertiary-level computing and IT-related qualifications), we are encouraging Korean universities to improve their ICT education programs. There are also various industry-academia cooperation programs that focus on offering on-the-job training.
Furthermore, we are also making efforts to evaluate the competence of software talent. For instance, we have been continuously promoting the TOPCIT (Test Of Practical Competency in IT), an evaluation system whereby the practical skills of ICT/ software engineering majors and software professionals are assessed.
Q: Could you describe your management philosophy
My goal is to unite all the members of the IITP through a healthy organizational culture that encourages communication and trust building. Thus, under the management philosophy of Creative, Communication- and CSR-based Management, I look to strengthen organizational integration, employee cohesion and congeniality among employees at the IITP this year. Also, as the head of the IITP, I am trying to win the hearts and minds of the employees through various communication-based approaches.
