Experts discuss on the topic “Collective Intelligence: Overcoming Global Pandemonium” during the 19th World Knowledge Forum. (Photos: Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Govt.)

Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo speaks at a special session of the 19th World Knowledge Forum at the Shilla Hotel on Oct. 11.

Gyeongsangbuk-do, generally considered a conservatism stronghold in Korea, is scrambling to cope with a fast-changing commonly and break the conventional mode of business, turning its focus to future technologies.

The province, once the engine behind Korea’s industrialization, is reeling from a declining industrial foundation and population. After a succession of earthquakes struck the Gyeongju and Pohang areas, they are trying to find solutions for sustainable growth. This is the reason why the provincial government lent an ear to the voices of experts who discussed at a special session of the 19th World Knowledge Forum at the Shilla Hotel on Oct. 11.

Eleven speakers exchanged heated discussions on topics such as upgrading manufacturing and smart factories, as well as sustainable future “smart cities” at the special session of the province’s Smart City X Project. The speakers shared the view that even though we are in an era with plenty of new technologies, cities still exist for people. What they mean is that meticulous care needs to be given to foster cities in which people want to live before advanced technologies are rushed into place.

CEO Kent Larson of MIT Media Lab said many things about cities have changed, and past modes of making cities were broken. City’s spacious roads and large-scale parking lots were reserved for machines (automobiles), but now cities have to be re-resigned for people, he added.

Sheila Warren, head of the Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology at the World Economic Forum, stressed the significance of blockchain in making future cities. He said blockchain could lead to a reduction in costs in terms of efficiency as it comes to creating a smart city.

Executive Vice President Sylvain Laurent of Dassault Systems, who led the Virtual Singapore Project, emphasized the importance of digital twin technology, was employed to create a virtual city based on residents and experts’ views and to apply it. He predicted that the days of interaction between real cities and virtual cities will come, saying that the important things in smart city is the destruction of the conventional automobile.

Speakers suggested smart factories as a future growth engine of Gyeongsangbuk-do, whose industrial infrastructure is dilapidated. Smart factory refers to the application of advanced technologies such as AI, IoT and big data in the manufacturing process to minimize labor force and promote efficient production tailored to meet customers’ needs.

Speakers shared the view that the central or provincial governments should come up with policy support to introduce smart factories for SMEs lacking money and information. Vice President Diego Areces of Schneider Electric said as it comes to the 4th Industrial Revolution, it is more important to apply technologies than it is to come up with new technologies.

Gyeongsangbuk-do Gov. Lee Cheol-woo, on hand at the session, said, Gyeongsangbuik-do, once a center of the manufacturing industry in Korea, is in a crisis with saturated growth. “(We’ll) take up the new challenges. In this regard, 1,000 SMEs will be supplied with smart factories by 2020,” he said.