OECDIT Next 10 Years of Digital Economy

By Cho Jin-seo

Staff Reporter

On June 18, Seoul may witness a making of another historic document ― the Seoul Declaration. More than 40 government representatives from the world's most influential countries and as many leaders from the civilian sector will collectively come up with ways on how the Internet and other digital technologies could be used to improve human life and society.

``Technology is not the main agenda of the meeting. It's more about human philosophy,'' says Song Do-kyun, head of the Korean Preparation Office of the OECD Ministerial Meeting for Internet Economy's Future.

``The Seoul declaration may have no fun in it. But we expect it to be one of the most important documents in human cultural development. And it will surely be so. Once it is announced, everyone will refer to it when talking about our future or starting a new business.''

It is the second time for the OECD nations to send their envoys to discuss the role of the Internet, since 1998's conference in Ottawa, Canada. This time, the meeting carries more responsibility than it did 10 years ago since the Internet economy has grown into an integral part of people's lives and will become even more so in the coming years.

With the attendance of 42 ministers from 37 countries and 41 prominent figures from the business and academic sectors, it will be the largest ministerial meeting of the OECD ever.

Among the participants are Katsuaki Watanabe, president and CEO of Toyota Motor; Babara Dalibard, CEO of France Telecom; Jim Balsillie, CEO of RIM, the maker of Blackberry phones; Mitchell Baker, chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation, the creator of the Firefox Web browser; Vint Cerf, vice president of Google; and Chey Tae-won, chairman of Korea's SK Group.

The ministers, business leaders, NGOs and other influential figures will discuss various topics on the Internet and communications industry over five rounds of meetings.

On Monday, there will be various side events hosting a myriad of leaders and experts in the information and communications industry, including Nam Joong-soo, CEO and president of KT, and Kim Shin-bae, CEO and president of SK Telecom.

The Korea Communications Commission will also open ``Future of the Internet Pavilion'' in the World IT Show, which will be held side by side with the Ministerial meeting from Tuesday to Thursday.

The theme pavilion will provide an opportunity to experience the latest technologies and potential of the Internet. Featuring the Ministerial agenda, the Pavilion comprises 3 zones: Convergence, Creativity and Confidence.