Message of Hope
Siemens Chairman Joe Kaeser, who is currently visiting Seoul, appraised Korea as a model country, which has been optimized for the era of the “fourth industrial revolution” or “industry 4.0,” which is a convergence of the digital and manufacturing industries, at a guest lecture of the Smart Revolution Forum foundation ceremony held at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 21.
Kaeser said, “South Korea is the strongest country in education,” adding, “In terms that education is the basis for knowledge, and knowledge is root of innovation, South Korea has a good foundation for sustainable growth.”
He went on to say, “The industry paradigm to lead economic development has gone through three stages of manpower in the first stage, infrastructure second, automation third, and now we are in the fourth stage digitalization.” He highlighted, “Digitalization means drawing accurate results by collecting and analyzing data, which gives a tremendous affect to the world.”
In particular, Kaeser delivered a message of hope that South Korea’s manufacturing industry, that is currently facing a crisis, has great soil to lead the era of a smart revolution.
He said, “South Korea's broadband Internet speed is at most 7 times faster than those of other countries and South Korea is abundant in manpower with technical skills and is active in infrastructure investment and adopting business friendly approach.” He claimed, “South Korea can become the perfect place for leading digital era and testing the performance of new technology.”
Then, he added, “Siemens is also really looking forward to the opportunities gained from creative economy policies that the Korean government pursues through supports for R&D and private public partnership.”