Administrator Lee Sang-hoon of the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) attends a session to kick off the “Carbon Neutrality Standardization Strategy Council,” designed to establish 2050 carbon neutrality standardization strategies at EL-Tower in Seoul on Feb. 22. (Photo: KATS)

New Administrator Lee Sang-hoon of the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) said, “Realizing changes of expanding products and services based on the new paradigm of non-face-to-face economy and digital technologies is standardization, and rising protectionist moves and technology hegemonism make standards’ roles more significant.”

Lee made the remarks as he took office as the 27th KATS administrator on Feb. 15. He said, “It is no exaggeration that standardization capabilities hinge on national competitiveness.”

In his inaugural speech, he stressed the need for not only doubling the nation’s industrial competitiveness through standardization, but also supporting the government’s growth strategies of digital innovation and carbon neutrality.

Lee said the Korean Constitution Article 127 Clause 2 orders the state to establish a national standardization system, and KATS is an institution responsible for not only contributing to economic development by establishing a national standardization system in accordance with the order of the Constitution, but also performing an important mission of protecting people’s safety.

New KATS Administrator Lee graduated from Hanyang University Electric Engineering Department and earned a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

He held major stints at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), such as director in charge of energy demand management policy, director-general for industrial policy, and director general for standard policy at KATS since passing the 28th higher technology examination. Lee is familiar with standardization as he served as an official at the predecessor of the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT).

As Lee served as director-general in charge of standard policy at KATS since November 2018, he was credited with spearheading KATS’s core policies, such as strategies to secure an upper hand in international standardization in an era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the establishment of a roadmap related to the standardization of the hydrogen economy, strategies of making K-quarantine models international standards, and strategies related to standardizing the non-face-to-face economy.

MOTIE to Work on Standardization of Service Industry

Unlike the manufacturing sector, where more than 20,000 national standards have been enforced over 60 years, as little as 150 national standards have been set for services during the recent 20 years.

The government will work on the standardization of the service industry to provide innovative growth of promising services and ramp up the quality of services, in keeping with acceleration of digital transformation and revitalization of the non-face-to-face economy.

Strategies to implement the standardization of the service industry were finalized during the 34th Meeting of the Central Economic Response Headquarters held on April 29, which is also the 2nd Ministerial Meeting on Industrial Innovation.

Under the strategies, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will develop 100 core service standards in promising service, life service and social safety service sectors by 2025.

The 100 service standardization tasks were designated in consideration of whether innovative services can be created on top of the reinvigorating of the non-face-to-face services, the urgency of making standards, and international standardization organizations’ standardization trends.

They were decided based on surveys on demand among industry, academia and research experts and the outcomes of in-depth reviews.

As for the promising service sector, 45 standards will be developed in logistics/distribution, health/medical care, and exhibition/MICE segments to secure the global competitiveness of the service industry whose markets have created or expanded in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

As for the life service sector, 21 standards related to smart work, education and wellness, will be developed to reflect consumers’ rising demand on non-face-to-face work and education and leisure activities.

As for the social safety sector, 34 standards related to public safety, environment safety and care of the underprivileged will be developed to protect the socially underprivileged and cope with dangerous factors of the safety of communities such as disasters and climate change in advance.