South Korea: innovation and openness
Published 3 July 2014
© Crown copyright 2014
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-korea-picking-winners-innovation-and-openness/south-korea-picking-winners-innovation-and-openness
0.1 Detail
Paul Maltby, Director of Innovation in the Cabinet Office visited Seoul from 23-25 June, to speak at the UN Public Policy Forum in two sessions on open data and Open Government Partnership (OGP) to promote UK policy. He also met officials from the Ministry of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA), Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) and lead delivery agency, National Information Security Agency (NIA).
Discussions touched on how to stimulate both supply and demand on open data to create this new and potentially huge market. MOSPA’s target was to open 60% of government data sets by 2016. It has secured serious money to improve the quality of government data ($2bn USD over 5 years). Change is progressing through leadership from President Park. Her ‘Government 3.0’ initiative seeks to provide customised services for the citizen through utilisation of technology and open data.
In a meeting with MSIP, they outlined their plans on big data and it was agreed to explore cooperation in the health area.
Just before this visit, MSIP launched a new ‘future growth engine’ implementation plan, similar to UK industrial strategies. The Koreans have selected nine strategic industries: smart cars, 5G mobile communications, marine plants, customised wellness care, wearable smart equipment, intelligent robots, disaster and safety management, smart systems, tangible content and renewable energy hybrid systems. They have also identified four fundamental industries: intelligent semi-conductors, big data, converged materials, and Internet of Things (IoT). Separately MSIP have also announced a big programme on 3D printing, committing to training 10 million people and putting 3D printers in 6,000 schools by 2017.
Comment
This was a very useful visit, showing the huge potential for cooperation with South Korea. They are putting serious investment into ensuring they capitalise on future sectors of growth. We are already collaborating across much of this field, including a Prosperity Fund project with NIA and Open Data Institute looking at the commercial benefits of open data, and a Global Partnership project on bioinformatics (health big data) with Imperial, Cambridge and UCL.
Both sides highlighted the global shortage of qualified data scientists. South Korea has set up a ‘big data institute’, aiming to train 5,000 data scientists by 2017 (300 have been trained so far). There is potential for exchange and academic collaboration as the Alan Turing Institute, the new Data Science Institute at Imperial and others expand their offer on big data. There is scope for both sides to boost capacity.
One area suggested for cooperation is in development of a code of practice on big data.
0.2 Disclaimer
The purpose of the FCO Country Update(s) for Business (”the Report”) prepared by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is to provide information and related comment to help recipients form their own judgments about making business decisions as to whether to invest or operate in a particular country. The Report’s contents were believed (at the time that the Report was prepared) to be reliable, but no representations or warranties, express or implied, are made or given by UKTI or its parent Departments (the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)) as to the accuracy of the Report, its completeness or its suitability for any purpose. In particular, none of the Report’s contents should be construed as advice or solicitation to purchase or sell securities, commodities or any other form of financial instrument. No liability is accepted by UKTI, the FCO or BIS for any loss or damage (whether consequential or otherwise) which may arise out of or in connection with the Report.