Integration of Construction,
Design, Digital Tech to Fill Gap
with Advanced Nations

Korea works on VC-10, a futuristic core technology development project

Prospects for the domestic construction design technology sector may be rosy as construction and design are being grafted into IT and digital technologies to form new, world-class technologies, a Korean authority on civil engineering says.
Kim Soo-sam, vice president for international relations at Hanyang University, said in an interview with NewsWorld "korea has excelled in the construction sector, but not in the design sector due to a lack of software. Things have now changed as Korea is integrating the traditional construction and design technologies into IT and digital technologies to form new, world-class ones."Prof. Kim, former president of Korean Society of Civil Engineers (KSCE), noted "Korean contractors have made a strong showing in the global construction field, as shown by the Burj Dubai in United Arab Emirates Samsung E&C is building the tallest skyscraper in the world.
"The domestic design sector is undergoing an overhaul to make up for its lacking software expertise by making the most of digital gadgets like cell phones and PDAs to exchange information about construction and design - a strategy designed to capitalize on Korea's strong points,"Prof. Kim said. As a result, Koran contractors now have a competitive edge in apartment and bridge construction projects said the professor, adding that the biggest arena of applying such IT and digital technologies as home automation is the construction sector like post-construction management like digitalized safety checks into structures.
The Korean government has placed more energy into developing futuristic technologies that will serve as Korea's breadwinners in the years to come, he said. To this end, it has come up with the Value Creator 10 (VC-10) Project, calling for the development of the top 10 core technologies by 2015 in the construction and transportation field by funneling 6.5 trillion won in R&D outlays. The top ten technologies include "U-Eco City" "Cubic Urban Renovation" Safe-super highway, super-long bridges; futuristic high-speed railway system, "Super KTX" magnetic levitation train, "Urban Maglev System" and "Global Top Desalt System."
Prof. Kim recalled that experts from KSCE, then headed by the professor, contributed to drafting the ongoing Construction Tech Road Map (CTRM). At that time, Kim asked Minister of Construction and Transportation Kang dong-suk for the need for the development of futuristic technologies in the construction and transportation sector. The suggestion now pays off: the governmental R&D outlays in the construction and transportation field have doubled to 140 billion won in 2005, and the R&D budget, set at 240 billion won, is expected to surge to 500 billion won, he said.
"Korean contractors have registered the Northeast Asian SOC Association as an incorporated body with the Ministry of Construction and Transportation following a one year-old study. The organization has been established to promote collaboration in the private sector by forming a SOC infrastructure networking among China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea,"he said.
"The civil engineering industry remains a permanent industrial field as long as human beings exist,"said Prof. Kim, adding that the domestic industry's proportion to GDP will drop to 10 percent from a range of 10 to 15 percent despite a surge in the value.
Korea's overseas construction industry has shifted from labor-intensive structure during the 1970s-80s - the first booming era - into a technology-intensive one. Korean contractors have turned to such high-tech areas as eco-friendly fields. They rank top in the plant engineering sector in the Middle East where more and more plant engineering plant orders have been placed thanks to a flow of oil dollars in the so-called second Middle East Boom, but the market is heading into a saturated stage, he said.
Prof. Kim stressed the need for Korean contractors'joint entry with advanced countries like the United States as a strategy designed to raise the added value. He noted that Korean contractors suffered losses during the 1st Middle East Boom period, but orders based on financial projects have yielded profits depending on the technological characteristics.
"These days, the civil engineering department together with atomic power and chemical engineering disciplines has become the least favored ones among college applicants, but the department will be outshined with the introduction of such futuristic engineering plastics as nano-concrete and concrete car with a five-fold or 10-fold strength and weight half of that of the conventional one as well as integration of between biology and civil engineering and between environment and biology,"he said.
As education programs correspond to new technologies according to the trends of the times, the American Society of Civil Engineers has refined the body of knowledge of civil engineering, needed to enter the practice of civil engineering at the professional level (licensure) in the 21st century.
Government, academic, university and research circles need to make concerted efforts to explore the way Korea can exceed other counties by grafting cutting-edge technologies and reflecting the social environment of the future, Prof. Kim said.
The National Academy Engineering of Korea Future Committee, headed by Prof. Kim, designated Korea's futuristic top 10 engineering technologies on the 10th anniversary of its founding last year - ubiquitous system, intelligent robot, biotechnology, nanotechnology, futuristic automobile technology, Wing in Ground, new and renewable energy technology, security and safety technology, aerospace technology and nuclear power, a stable energy source amid crude oil price hikes.
Korea, with the world's 10th largest economy, needs to monitor the policies and trends of its competitors while maintaining a global networking with them, he said.
Prof. Kim observed that now is the time when Korean contractors could take it seriously to spin off the housing sector. The reason is that the financial soundness of contractors and the composition of manpower are distorted because the housing sector depends on the value of the current market like the financial markets, whereas the non-housing sector encompassing civil engineering and plant engineering turns to the future value as capital goods.
A case in point is the restructuring of Japan's construction industry in the past decade, he noted. The whole sector of the Japanese construction industry, including civil engineering and plant engineering, had been rocked by the burst of the bubble in the housing sector. Japanese contractors had to have spun off the housing sector and undergone workout or M&As to be put them on the track.
Prof. Kim said Korean contractors, including Samsung E&C, are not so big if the housing sector is excluded. Many large-sized E&C, including Hyundai Engineering and Construction, have their ownership changed or undergone a financial liquidity crisis. On the other hand, such contractors as Daelim Industrial have managed a crisis. Daelim, ranking fifth in the domestic industry, has successfully coped with difficulties with its owner still taking the helm since its founding as an outlet with a construction industry license in 1958.
Kim stressed the need for the establishment of programs for fostering world-class talented manpower.
KSCE was established in 1951 with the goal of advancing and promoting the civil engineering profession and providing better services to the public through research and development, member training and education, technical advices and assistance, and mutual cooperation among the members, he said. It is Korea's largest engineering society with a membership of about 20,000 hailing from political, government, industry and academic circles
In the second half of this year, KSCE will organize a study session at the King Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju where more than 1,000 theses will be released. The conference will coincide with a policy discussion session, a technology exchange session and an international convention.
KSCE is working on a plan to upgrade its journal to Science Citation Index (SC)-class one under a deal with the global renowned Elsevier.
It conducts international exchanges with such societies of the United States, Japan, China and India. nw

Kim Soo-sam, vice president for international relations at Hanyang University and former president of Korean Society of Civil Engineers (KSCE). Prof. Kim is a co-author of the book, titled "Again, Technology is the Future.