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| Lee Byung-gwon, president of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Courtesy of KIST |
By Baek Byung-yeul
The year of 2019 will likely become a challenging one for high-tech industries here as China is heavily investing in sectors in which Korea has taken the lead — such as semiconductors. In response, Korea needs to develop its own core technologies to get round China's tightening grip on the high-tech industries, said the president of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).
"Korea is urged to secure core and fundamental technologies with a long-term perspective in high-tech industries. China is increasingly investing in industries like semiconductors to take the leadership in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution. This already has become a big threat to Korea's key export industries," Lee Byung-gwon, KIST president, said in an email interview with The Korea Times, Dec. 24.
"To secure future growth engines, the country needs to focus more on highly advanced technologies such as nanotechnology, new material technology like graphene or 2D atom-thin sheets of carbon, quantum computing and bionics," Lee said.
Stating that Korea is still in the early stage of these fields, Lee said state-run institutes like KIST should play bigger roles in developing core technologies.
"Many global firms and advanced countries are rushing to develop their own core technologies in these sectors as they presume the technologies will have a great deal of influence not only on industries but also our everyday life," Lee said.
"State-run institutes such as KIST should concentrate on securing more original technologies because it is us to take a long-term strategic approach to the matters rather than private firms."
The Korean economy profited from booming exports of semiconductors in 2018. While warning signs of a downturn in the chip business is looming in 2019 due to weakening memory chip prices and stagnating demand, Lee predicted the chip industry will still be an energetic one, saying there will be constant demand for memory chips.
"The business cycle of the chip industry will not fluctuate as much as it had in the personal computer era. As the world evolves rapidly into a hyper-connected one, Korea's chip business is still expected to enjoy high demand in 2019," Lee said.
To widen the technological gap with China in semiconductors, KIST established the Post-silicon Semiconductor Institute (PSI) in 2015.
The subsidiary institute is aiming to develop advanced semiconductors that are faster and consume less energy compared to the current silicon-based semiconductors. "KIST has secured core technologies in next-generation semiconductors. These are hard to be achieved in university labs and companies," Lee said.
KIST was established in 1966. As the country's first state-run research institute, KIST has helped pave the way for Korea's economic development.
The institute has set up various economic development strategies such as establishing steel mills and shipyards and nurturing the automotive industry. It also played a considerable part in developing its own semiconductor technologies.
Lee said its role in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution is to develop basic technologies that can support private firms.
"KIST underpins its role in developing original technology for the Fourth Industrial Revolution while most parts of the industrial era will be led by private firms," Lee said.
KIST has been working on applying artificial intelligence (AI), big data and robotic technologies to various fields such as brain science, biotechnology, medical engineering and new materials technology. "Utilizing intelligent robot technologies and big data, we have set a goal to secure core technologies in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution," he said.
The KIST president stressed there should be different views to take the lead in the new industrial era.
"Hyper-connectivity, hyper-intelligence and hyper-reality will become keywords for the Fourth Industrial Era. Many people are paying attention to AI, big data and robotics as representative technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. But I see them as generic technologies that can be applied to other technologies," Lee said.
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Lee also emphasized that technology ought to play a role in solving problems the country and its people are confronting.
"Predicting the country's future changes the views of science and technology, the advent of aging society, rise of environmental and energy issues and absence of future growth strategy of the country's economy will become major problems in the future. These are directly related with the country's population structure, lifestyle of people and industrial structure," Lee said.
The government increased the budget allocated for R&D to 20.53 trillion won ($18.3 billion) in 2019, up 4.4 percent from 2018's 19.7 trillion won ($17.5 billion).
Lee said the increased R&D budget shows growing expectations from the government and society that technology can provide solutions to those issues.
Seeking science cooperation with North Korea
Amid an amicable mood building on the Korean Peninsula, Lee said KIST is seeking ways to cooperate with North Korean institutes and stressed the need to establish a center for science and technology cooperation operated by both the South and the North.
"When the two Germanies were united, state-run science institutes such as Max Planck Society played great roles, promoting cooperation in science and technology between them. For that reason, it is important for the two Koreas to have a center for science and technology cooperation," Lee said.
Lee said the proposal to establish the cooperation center is nothing new as the two Koreas agreed to have one during the 2007 inter-Korean summit. However, the plan was scrapped due to political disputes between the two Koreas.
To revive the project, KIST has held a series of forums, inviting a couple of experts on North Korean science and technology. "This is to cultivate an agenda on which the South and the North can cooperate and prepare for the post-unification era," Lee said.
Lee said the North has high demands for technologies that can increase food production and utilize its natural resources.
"The North has been pursuing economic development using scientific technology. It also puts importance on developing technologies that can utilize its natural resources," Lee said.
