By Lee Min-hyung
Policymakers are being urged to adopt long-term plans to build a software-driven information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure here, rather than sticking to generating industry-wise, tangible results, experts said Monday.
The move comes amid growing calls for the nation to catch up with the current technological paradigm shift toward software-oriented ICT infrastructure.
Global ICT giants, including Facebook, Amazon and Google, are generating billions of dollars in profits by building software-oriented infrastructure, but the nation is still sticking to hardware-focused industry growth.
"The government understands the importance of software, but on an industry scale, Korea is still sticking to hardware-based technology growth," said Ahn Chang-wook, a software professor at Sungkyunkwan University.
"To bring the nation's software industry to the next level, policymakers should shift their mindsets and implement long-term investment plans by investing more into fundamental technologies, rather than generating short-term, industry-facing tangible performances."
There are still enormous gaps between what companies want and education bodies pursue, but the government should narrow the gap and set a specific roadmap to achieve both academic and industry-level software development, according to the expert.
"What we want is to breed industry-leading technology leaders, such as Steve Jobs, on a long-term basis, but this is at odds with what companies push for," said the professor.
But he expressed optimism over software development here, as perceptions over the industry are gradually changing.
"In the case of the United States, most graduates with software engineering degrees there have a strong academic background and practical industry skills," he said. "However, it took decades for the country to develop this industry-leading education infrastructure, which is not the case for Korea."
"As the government and tech companies have started to understand the importance of software, we believe the country can also build a strong software-based technology infrastructure in 10 years with enough trial and error," he said.
However, an official from a local software company said the nation's software industry still has a lot of room to grow, as the government is still only pushing for some software-related projects only to stress their achievements in emerging trendy software industry areas ― such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.
"It is true that state-run bodies ― including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning ― are allocating budgets more toward a number of emerging, software-based technology sectors, compared to a few years ago," said the official, asking for anonymity.
"But they are still obsessed with generating some short-term, notable results on it," he said. "If the government really cares about software growth here, it has to draw up more detailed policies to build fundamental software infrastructure ― such as software-focused curriculum for teenagers."
Policymakers are being urged to adopt long-term plans to build a software-driven information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure here, rather than sticking to generating industry-wise, tangible results, experts said Monday.
The move comes amid growing calls for the nation to catch up with the current technological paradigm shift toward software-oriented ICT infrastructure.
Global ICT giants, including Facebook, Amazon and Google, are generating billions of dollars in profits by building software-oriented infrastructure, but the nation is still sticking to hardware-focused industry growth.
"The government understands the importance of software, but on an industry scale, Korea is still sticking to hardware-based technology growth," said Ahn Chang-wook, a software professor at Sungkyunkwan University.
"To bring the nation's software industry to the next level, policymakers should shift their mindsets and implement long-term investment plans by investing more into fundamental technologies, rather than generating short-term, industry-facing tangible performances."
There are still enormous gaps between what companies want and education bodies pursue, but the government should narrow the gap and set a specific roadmap to achieve both academic and industry-level software development, according to the expert.
"What we want is to breed industry-leading technology leaders, such as Steve Jobs, on a long-term basis, but this is at odds with what companies push for," said the professor.
But he expressed optimism over software development here, as perceptions over the industry are gradually changing.
"In the case of the United States, most graduates with software engineering degrees there have a strong academic background and practical industry skills," he said. "However, it took decades for the country to develop this industry-leading education infrastructure, which is not the case for Korea."
"As the government and tech companies have started to understand the importance of software, we believe the country can also build a strong software-based technology infrastructure in 10 years with enough trial and error," he said.
However, an official from a local software company said the nation's software industry still has a lot of room to grow, as the government is still only pushing for some software-related projects only to stress their achievements in emerging trendy software industry areas ― such as machine learning and artificial intelligence.
"It is true that state-run bodies ― including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning ― are allocating budgets more toward a number of emerging, software-based technology sectors, compared to a few years ago," said the official, asking for anonymity.
"But they are still obsessed with generating some short-term, notable results on it," he said. "If the government really cares about software growth here, it has to draw up more detailed policies to build fundamental software infrastructure ― such as software-focused curriculum for teenagers."
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