Good evening!
Distinguished guests, student participants of the Young Professionals Forum, and mayors and vice mayors from 88 cities representing 30 countries. Welcome to Korea and Daejeon.
I would like to thank all the distinguished guests from around the Asia-Pacific region for your presence tonight, particularly the mayor of Brisbane, Graham Quirk, and the mayor of Daejeon, Sun-Taik Kwon, as well as student participants from many foreign universities, and KAIST and Chungnam National University in Daejeon.
First of all, I would like to tell you that I am a passionate about the topic this forum will address: Shaping the Future of the Asia Pacific. This is a very important issue we should address, not only to meet the challenges ahead but to prosper for years to come.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
We are in a period of great transformation. The new industrial environment, which is called “the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” will bring about new opportunities and challenges in shaping our future.
This world is increasingly hyper-connected and changing more rapidly than ever. Super-intelligence dominates our lives. The convergence approach of cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and scholarship will be a vital part of creating new knowledge and technology. The speed and scope of the transformation the Fourth Industrial Revolution will bring about is beyond our imagination. Dr. Klaus Schwab, Chairman of the World Economic Forum who first coined the term “the Fourth Industrial Revolution” said that it will come at us like a tsunami.
I am sure that you and your city want to be champions for the new era of this global environment. This is the very reason why you are gathered here at this forum. What will be the key driving forces for your city to be a champion in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? I think that three factors are the most important.
First, the strong leadership of your mayor, equipped with Vision, Innovation, and Passion, which I call ‘VIP’ leadership will be critical. I personally think that our Mayor Kwon has this VIP leadership. In this regard, we Daejeon citizens are so lucky.
Second, close collaboration between the local government and industry should be promoted. The local government should support local industries to become hidden champions by providing one-stop administrative services and building a business-friendly ecosystem.
Last but not the least, it is about the role of universities. Universities should be the hub of innovation in a city, as well as the country, through innovations in education, research, and technology commercialization.
As president of KAIST, it is my pleasure to mention that KAIST has spearheaded innovation in Korean universities since its foundation in 1971. KAIST has produced 58,000 graduates including 11,700 Ph.D. degree holders in science and engineering. Approximately 23% of those graduates have attained leadership positions in industry, academia, and research institutes in Korea. Approximately 45% of our graduates are working in industry; numerous graduates are CEOs in major companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG. Specifically about 20% of our graduates are CEOs of venture startups. They are leading tech-based startups and the IT industry, such as NAVER, serving as role models for entrepreneurs.
Fortunately, KAIST and Daejeon are working together very closely. We launched the Committee for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology Platform and I co-chair the committee with Mayor Kwon. We are working to identify the issues and technologies that local companies are concerned with and address their problems.
Since many young students are attending tonight, I would like to give some advice to them before closing my speech. I sincerely hope that you will become the innovators, shapers, and movers for realizing the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Daejeon as well as Korea. To this end, you have to train and prepare yourselves as the talents required for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Considering the megatrends of the new era characterized by hyper-connectivity, superintelligence, and convergence of science and technology, I would like to advise you to build up a creative, convergent, and collaborative mind, which I call ‘3C’ talents.
Well, let me stop my speech here by wishing all the guests and young participants to have a wonderful time tonight.
Thank you so much.
Sung-Chul Shin
President, KAIST