‘Harmony Between High-Tech and Knowledge’

Tech+ 2010 will bring together scores of global renowned technology experts in Seoul

Scores of technology experts from Korea and abroad will assemble at the Jamsil Gymnasium in Seoul on Nov. 9-10 to participate in an international technology forum.
Tech+ 2010: Innovate Korea will be hosted and organized by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) and the Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology (KIAT) under the theme “Innovate Korea: To the Center Stage of the World in the New Era.”
The international forum, being held in conjunction with the G20 Seoul Summit, is designed to raise the general public’s awareness toward the exchange and spread of ideas. Innovative leaders from each field will share knowledge and present new development strategies of the industrial ecosystem, organizers said. It is a knowledge forum for all those seeking creative inspiration by combining technology with economy, culture and humanistic aspects since its inception in 2009.
The G20 Summit is a gathering of global leaders to discuss international collaboration in the post-global financial crisis era, whereas Tech+ 2010 serves as an opportunity to join other global leaders from various sectors in experiencing the future paradigm of technology, organizers said.
Tech+, a combination of the initials of technology, economy, culture and human, symbolizes the creation of new ideas going beyond boundaries and transforming the world.
MKE Minister Choi Kyung-hwan and Hwang Chang-kyu, chief of the MKE’s R&D Strategy and Planning Corps, each will deliver a keynote speech at a special session on the first day, Nov. 9. They will present Korea’s Industrial Technology Innovation Vision 2020.
The event will bring together scores of globally-famed experts in one place. They include Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP, who will forecast the future of the IT Industry; Yves Doz, the author of “Fast Strategy” and a scholar of company innovation and global strategy, who will show how the industrial structure might change and how companies and governments should take action against it; Dennis Hong, the robot creator who turned imagination into reality, will introduce to the world how high technology fulfills the dreams and visions of human beings; Jaron Lanier, who will talk about the undiscovered continents of human potential; and Karim Rashid, who will speak on the topic “Shaping Future Nutopias.”
Among the Korean participants are Jeong Jae-seung, the author of ‘Science concert’ and guru of science and technology, who will shed new light on economy, culture and society from a scientific point of view and talk about the relationship among technology, science, culture and humanity based on current issues, and Shin Ki-woun, who will speak about technology, art and visual reality.
The plenary sessions of the forum, being held under the concept “Mind-awakening Knowledge Forum,” and will have five themes ― Eco (ecosystem), Art, Edge, Touch, and Insight.
The Eco session will deal with business and a new set of rules. Killer products with strong competitiveness such as smartphones and tablet PCs are coming on the market. Convergence and open innovation are the key factors in forming the new ecosystem and how the future industrial structure should change.
The Art session ― Technology Meets
Freedom ― will take a look into what a technology corresponding to art levels moving customers is like.
The Edge session ― The Conception of Concept ― will discuss how only differentiated products and technology will survive the competition. The session introduces leaders who have gained their reputations with new ideas that surpass the existing ones.
The Touch session will deal with “Innovation with Emotion.” How can technology approach people? How does the desire of humans affect technology? The session will present humans’ attempts to share feelings with technology.
The Insight session will deal with many things we encounter and cannot see. This the session in which viewers gain insight from the leaders who have maintained their top positions and find the factors that everyone else is missing. nw

Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) President Kim Yong-geun speaks during Tech+ 2009. KIAT will hold Tech+ 2010 under the theme “Innovate Korea: To the Center Stage of the World in the New Era” on Nov. 9-10 in Seoul

A scene of Tch+ 2009