New President Hwang Kyu-yeon of the Korea Industrial Complex Corp. (KICOX) delivers his inaugural speech at the KICOX headquarters in Daegu on Sept. 12.

Former Deputy Minister Hwang Kyu-yeon, of the Office of Industrial Creativity and Innovation at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), took the helm of the Korea Industrial Complex Corp. (KICOX) at the KICOX headquarters in Daegu on Sept. 12. 

In his inaugural speech, KICOX President Hwang said, “KICOX’s role is getting more important than ever to ease the difficulties of the whole of the Korean industrial sector. KICOX will make our industrial complexes spearhead the 4th Industrial Revolution based on creativity and convergence, and they will be innovated as core spaces to lead the digital economy.”

New KICOX President Hwang studied public administration at Hanyang University and obtained a master’s degree in economics at Carnegie Mellon University School of Public Policy & Management. He held such positions as director in overall capital goods and industry at the predecessor of the MOTIE, director in charge of local investments and site, and director general in charge of trade and deputy minister of the Office of Industrial Creativity and Innovation at the MOTIE. 

Hwang is assessed as a prominent expert in industrial location for his involvement in the implementation of major projects related to industrial location, including ones designed to ramp competitiveness of industrial centers. 

President Hwang said he will operate KICOX so the corporation can establish itself as a space to spearhead the 4th Industrial Revolution. To this end, he said, KICOX will focus policy capabilities on the converging of the ICT and the conventional manufacturing industries. In particular, KICOX has a strategy of improving the standards of industrial complexes by introducing smart industrial complexes and smart factories to enhance tenant companies’ productivity, he said.

“Our industrial complexes will be reinvented as meccas of creativity and convergence to become a core space of the creative economy,” President Hwang said. 

President Hwang continued, “A focus will be on ensuring safety management of industrial complexes and the implementation of projects to improve their environment to guarantee the quality of life, and depilated industrial complexes will be remodeled to improve the productivity and competitive edge of tenant companies. 

KICOX plans to reestablish its functions and identity to have staff instilled with happiness and a sense of pride with the goal of becoming an institution specializing in innovation. Hwang stressed a management task of overhauling regulations that companies deem unnecessary and cumbersome. 

To this end, he plans to strengthen communications with tenant companies. “I will focus on reflecting the voices of tenant companies on policies, recovering exports and creating jobs,” he said.

KICOX executives and senior officers, including KICOX President Hwang Kyu-yeon, pose for a group photo while participating at a ceremony in which new President Hwang took the helm of the corporation. (Photos: KICOX)