Back in 2004 when ICT was viewed as a silver lining for the S. Korean economy, The Korea IT Times embarked on a journey towards an untraveled destination called “ICT Korea”.
Bearing in mind that globally promoting the “ICT Korea” brand would help slake the export-oriented economy’s thirst for growth, we published the first issue of English-language ICT journal The Korea IT Times. However, our journey was far from getting off to a good start. A series of challenges was awaiting us. It was like desperately navigating treacherous waters on a leaky boat after climbing up steep rugged mountains pantingly. Yet, our determination to become a little giant spearheading the globalization of the “ICT Korea” brand helped us pull through such hard times. Over the past 10 years, The Korea IT Times has strived to help ICT Korea play a part in the world’s unstoppable Internet-based digital revolution.
S. Korea has thus far notched up so many number 1s: it came out on top in semiconductor memories, mobile phones and displays. Armed with broadband Internet network services and giga Internet infrastructures, it also topped the ICT Development Index (IDI) and ranked first in ultra high-speed Internet penetration among OECD member nations. Furthermore, it has finished first in the United Nations E-Government Survey for three consecutive years. Above all, following SK Telecom’s announcement that it would put on the world’s first demonstration of 5G during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, KT and LGU+ have also swiftly gone public with their 5G demonstration plans. With ICT Korea’s pursuit of the world’s best felt around the world, even businesses in developed nations benchmarked against Korean IT technologies.
Nonetheless, the 21stcentury’s demands for new digital convergence for the sake of greater globalization do not allow ICT Korea to coast. ICT Korea has been continuously asked to evolve creatively and innovate. Having suffered a humiliating defeat to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, resilient Sony started revving up to make a strong comeback on the back of Abenomics. Chinese tech companies, which have taken their cues from the success of S. Korea’s electronics and IT companies, are fast closing in on their Korean counterparts.
As for displays, China’s R&D investment in displays jumped 22% to USD 284 billon from 2012 while the US’s R&D investment rose a mere 4% over the same period. On the other hand, S. Korea, many point out, is dragging its feet on making investment in displays. To top it off, China is rigorously recruiting and financially backing Chinese display experts, who have been working in developed nations, such as the EU, the US and Japan, in a bid to develop future display technologies, whereas most Korean display experts work on home turf. Thus, the double whammy of strong competition from China and the long-drawn–out global economic slowdown has put a dark cloud over the S. Korean economy, heavily dependent on exports.
The S. Korean economy has reached the limits to growth. Its capability for job creation has lost its mojo. The key to finding new growth engines and creating jobs lies with the nation’s transition from traditional manufacturing to a new digital convergence manufacturing. We are at a critical juncture where searches for new growth engines and jobs should bear fruit to put a new batch of world-first, world-best technologies and products on the global market
The Korea IT Times is poised to assist ICT Korea in creating new growth engines and jobs and to deliver messages of hope dissipating the dark cloud hanging over the S. Korean economy. The Korea IT Times looks to embrace a new paradigm of digital convergence and build a new uplifting network with passionate Korean readers, who have catapulted Korean semiconductors, displays, cars and shipbuilding to the world’s top; global ICT heavyweights, like Microsoft, Google, Apple, IBM and Amazon; the world’s top 10 global portals; nearly 700 global news outlets; and 100 million global readers.
The Korea IT Times will create a virtuous cycle in value creation by delivering real-time coverage of the convergence between mainstay industries and future-oriented technologies such as ICT, BT, NT, CT and of bluesumers (blue ocean + consumer) of the nation’s new technologies (e.g. next-generation mobile network 5G, big data technology, cloud services, IoT and wearables) to readers around the globe.
.Today, putting behind the 10th anniversary of working as a little giant dedicated to the globalization of ICT Korea, The Korea IT Times is limbering up again for another decade or a century to come so as to thank the support from global readers. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to readers, both domestic and overseas, for your continued support and affection. Thanks you.