The Korea Production Center (KPC) organized the 2017 Global Conference on the 4th Industrial Revolution and the Future of Productivity at the Le Merdien Seoul on Oct. 26.
The conference was designed to share major productivity factors amid the 4th Industrial Revolution era and help Korean SMEs lacking technologies find ways of coping. Among the roughly 500 people at the conference were vice minister-level government officials from 20 countries, including Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as 65 productivity experts, Korean company and public organization representatives.
KPC Chairman Hong Soon-jik said in an opening speech, “We’ll provide support to help cases of leading companies introduced during the conference and key technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution spread to our SMEs in a fast fashion.”
The KPC will aggressively implement efforts to improve productivity in an innovative manner in accordance with the government’s innovative growth initiatives, he said. Changes amid the 4th Industrial Revolution and productivity paradigm shift were shared, and government and corporate response strategies were presented during a session on “The 4th Industrial Revolution and Productivity: Changes and Responses” held in the morning.
President Matthew Le Merle of Fifth Era, a keynote speaker, explained the productivity paradigm changes and future response tasks. He introduced destructive innovation cases of world-changing companies, including Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, saying that Korea needs to ramp up investments and support for companies and individuals with innovative capabilities in the strategy, organization culture and leadership perspectives.
Sunami Atushi, vice president of the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Japan, which is the architect of “Japan Society 5.0,” gave a lecture on government roles and tasks during the Society 5.0: 4th Industrial Revolution. Atushi said Society 5.0 is a society in which products and services all people need are supplied at a time they want and with qualities they want, and the goal of Society 5.0 is to connect object-to-object, people-to-machine, company-to-company in different industries, and manufacture-to-consumer.
Innovative ways of Amazon, Microsoft and other global leaders of the 4th Industrial Revolution were shared during the afternoon session titled “Global Companies’ Business Strategies: Opportunities and Threats.”
General Manager Kimberly Leader of Microsoft touched on Microsoft’s digital workplace innovation strategies: the improving of organizational and individual productivity. He introduced how the conventional office program and integrated new technologies will have an impact on digital innovation and Korean companies’ digital workplace innovation response and how to apply them.
President Chandan Sharma of Amazon Service lectured on Amazon’s big data strategies.
He stressed the need to read customers’ hearts and minds by analyzing big data during an era of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the surpassing of the existing limits by digital innovation. He called for innovation-friendly corporate culture and Korean companies’ pushing for innovation without fear of failures.
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President Mattew Le Merle of Fifth Era gives a lecture at the 2017 Global Conference on the 4th Industrial Revolution and the Future of Productivity at the Le Merdien Seoul on Oct. 26. (Photos: KPC)
58th APO WSM Convened in Seoul
The APO’s 58th Workshop Meeting of Heads of National Productivity Organizations (WSM) took place in Seoul from Oct. 24~26. The agenda included the adoption of the evaluation of 2016 projects, reconfirmation of the APO Program Plan for 2018, and Strategic Planning Sessions to deliberate on the new biennium program plan for 2019~2020.
The WSM reviewed programs to ensure that they respond effectively to the changing needs of member countries.
KPC Chairman Hong received a plaque of thanks from APO Secretary General Santhi Kanoktanaporn in recognition of the KPC’s contribution to improving productivity in Asia like the supporting of e-Learning infrastructure for Mongolia and the transferring of productivity improvement methods to Thailand.
