Mobility, Human Care to Be Key Phrases
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Technologies for enhancing mobility and health care as well as environment-friendly technologies and renewable energy have a bright future.
The LG Economic Research Institute suggested 10 key phrases about where future technologies should be heading. They are mobility, globalization and localization, human care, mega-city, environment-friendly, substitute, emotion, creation, compliance, and ethics. The institute said goods and services adopting these keyword technologies would lead the market.
It estimated that mobility of men and resources would increase massively following globalization, meaning new technologies would be needed.
Technology that finds a balance between globalization and localization would also be essential for corporate success. The seemingly conflicting words have been like rabbits for multinational companies to catch, serving the specific needs of local customers and seeking to go global.
The think tank noted the rapid aging of the population. In Korea, for example, senior citizens aged 65 or over represented 9.1 percent of the total population in 2005. The ratio is expected to soar to nearly 15 percent in 2018, and to over 20 percent in 2026. The institute said the ``human care'' industry, adopting biotechnology and IT for a healthy life, would bloom.
It also mentioned the expansion of mega-cities around the world. Despite the government's effort to develop provinces for balanced growth, mega-cities are absorbing large chunks of the population and capital. The institute said new technologies focusing on reconstructing the old downtown and enhancing quality of life would be highlighted.
Environment-friendly technologies, as seen in hybrid cars by Toyota, and renewable energies, will continue to be the key phrases in the future, according to the think tank.
Compliance will be another keyword in technology, according to the institute, as manufacturers will have to develop new technologies to meet global regulation on greenhouse gas emissions. Ethics will also be a keyword in the future as technology related to the creation of life develops.