On December 9 (Thursday), KISDI (President Kwon Ho-yeol) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lim Hye-sook) held the ‘1st Digital Transformation Megatrend Conference’ at the main conference room of the Post Tower. The event was held in a hybrid offline/online format to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The live broadcast can be viewed at KISDI’s website (kisdi-megatrend.com) and the Ministry of Science and ICT’s YouTube site (https://www.youtube.com/user/withmsip).

The Ministry of Science and ICT and KISDI have identified 2030 digital transformations and megatrends and associated issues in the four areas of technology, economy and industry, public administration, and society and regulations, and have explored policy agendas related to these four areas. The digital transformation and megatrend research was conducted in the form of joint research by a number of leading associations - including the Korean Sociological Association, Korean Political Science Association, Korean Association for Public Administration, Korean Association for Policy Studies, Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences, and Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers - in partnership with leading academic societies. Through a series of joint workshops and forums, experts from industry, academia, and research institutions have been creating a future vision of digital transformation.

First, in session 1, Director Lee Ho-yeong of KISDI’s Digital Economy & Society Research Division talked about the four megatrends in the era of digital transformation in his keynote presentation titled ‘2030 Digital Transformation: Redesigning the Future’. In his discussions of the 27 topics researched jointly by KISDI and academic societies, Director Lee introduced the premise that digital transformation will not lead to polarization, but rather to positive changes, and that polarization is just the outcome of the social routes taken by people. He then proposed digital co-prosperity society as the vision of the future desired by many people.

In November 2021, an online survey (Gallop)* was conducted on 2,626 people aged 20-69, with predetermined numbers allocated by gender, age, and region. The survey results showed that a large percentage of the respondents (42%) viewed South Korean society as a 'society where the privileges of the establishment are preserved’. Regarding the question of what kind of future society is most likely to emerge if digital transformation continues to advance at the same pace and in the same way as today, 37.8% of the respondents asserted that a ‘digital co-prosperity society’ would most likely become reality, while, conversely, 32.0% stated that ‘a digital survival-of-the-fittest society’ would be the most likely outcome. However, by selecting ‘a society where the privileges of the establishment are preserved’ (47.3%) and ‘a digital survival-of-the-fittest society’ (33.7%) as the kind of future that South Korean society must avoid, the respondents signaled that while a future of the survival-of-the-fittest is probable, it is certainly not preferable. By overwhelmingly selecting ‘digital co-prosperity society’ (62.3%) as the best vision of the future for South Korea, the respondents indicated their desire to live in a society that espouses innovation while sharing the fruits of growth with everyone.

In session 2, under the theme of ‘a digital future society of cooperation and coexistence', the participants gave presentations on ‘Changes in the public sector paradigm in the era of digital transformation and redefinition of the roles and functions of the government’, ‘Public sector paradigm changes in the era of digital transformation and redefinition of the roles and functions of the government’, ‘Design of a cooperative governance model that could respond to digital transformation’, 'New opportunities and conflict in a digital transformation society', and 'Future strategies in politics and diplomacy for the advancement of democracy in the era of digital transformation'.

As the first speaker of session 2, Professor Lee Soo-young of the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University talked about potential directions in constructing government systems of the future and explored the possibility of innovating government services and resolving social issues.

In the next presentation, Professor Kim Hyun-joon of the Department of Public Administration of Korea University introduced a model of cooperative governance that could maximize the potential for innovation and growth in the era of digital transformation and overcome crisis factors.

Next, Professor Choi Hang-seop from the Department of Sociology of Kookmin University gave a presentation on his predictions for the digital transformation society of the future in 2030 using numerous variables and scenario techniques, and then presented seven scenarios derived from the predictions.

As the last speaker of the 2nd session, Professor Jang Woo-young from the Department of Political Science of Daegu Catholic University explored the issues surrounding the digital transformation environment and strategies, all from the perspective of the innovation of democracy and the restructuring of international politics.

The final debate was moderated by Professor Choi Heung-suk (former Chairman of the Korean Association for Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Korea University) and led by the heads of various associations: Professor Park Soon-ae (Chairman of the Korean Association for Public Administration, Department of Public Administration, Seoul National University), Professor Hong Hyung-deuk (Chairman of the Korean Association for Policy Studies, Department of Public Administration, Kangwon National University), Professor Chang Won-ho (Chairman of the Korean Sociological Association, Department of Urban Sociology, University of Seoul), and Professor Kim Nam-guk (Chairman of the Korean Political Science Association, Department of Political Science, Korea University). In the debates, the key issues included how to design a future where digital transformation would not hinder the development of the community by provoking excessive polarization and social conflicts.

Session 3 was held in the afternoon on the theme of 'Digital Future Economy of Innovation and Prosperity'. Presentations were given on 'Competition policies for the development of the platform economy', 'Changes in industry and economy resulting from digital transformation and strategies for the future, 'Policies on technological and industrial innovation in the era of digital transformation', and 'Technology R&D strategies for realizing a sustainable digital economy'.

The first presentation was given by Professor Hong Dae-sik from the Graduate School of Law of Sogang University. He explained the elements of the paradigm change (i.e. at each stage of the paradigm change) in government policies following the changes in the competitive structure of the platform market.

Next, Professor Kim Do-hoon from Kyung Hee University’s College of Management presented the findings of his study on the quantitative effects of having a servitization-oriented economy created through digital transformation, and described the socio-economic contributions of digital transformation.

Next, Professor Shin Yoan from Soongsil University’s School of Electronic Engineering predicted that by 2030 digital transformation will be the new normal and a new technological and industrial ecosystem will be in place. He then presented a model and policies for a Korean-style technology-industrial ecosystem that could become internationally competitive through hyper-collaboration.

Finally, Professor Cho Sung-jae of Dankook University’s Department of Software defined the following challenges that must be tackled in order to realize a sustainable digital economy: the need to develop new digital technology R&D and human resource training, expand the use of AI fusion technology, and secure AI technology reliability and digital data and technology reliability in order to ensure the safe utilization of data. He then discussed a possible mid-to-long term digital technology roadmap and plans for training human resources with the ability to develop and use digital new technologies.

The final debate of the 3rd session was moderated by Professor Lee Hee-jung (next Chairman of the Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, School of Law, Korea University). Senior Research Choi Gye-Iyong (KISDI Department of Digital Economy Research), Professor Kwon Nam-hoon (Chairman of the Korea Association for Telecommunications Policies, Department of Economics, Konkuk University), Professor Kim Young-han (Chairman of the Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences, School of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University), and Professor Shim Kyu-seok (next Chairman of the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University) participated as debate panelists.

This conference provided a venue for listening in on what leading figures from academia think about the convergence of digital technologies and heterogeneous industries and its harmful effects, and the opportunities and challenges posed by the acceleration of digital transformation brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. Next year’s conference will also be a continuation (2nd year) of this year’s, with digital transformation as its main theme.