KISTEP participated in the Seoul Economic Daily Conference on the Future 2022 held on September 15.

Under the theme of 「The future of Korea depends on nurturing talents」, the conference was held in four sessions: ‘Future Talent in the Era of Global Technology Hegemony’, ‘Fostering talents in firms and a Virtuous Cycle Ecosystem’, and ‘Strategies for nurturing national talents for future growth engines’, and ‘University Education Innovation and Human Resource Development.' More than 400 participants including 200 college students and graduate students, and officials from research institutes, and private companies attended the conference.

President Byung-Seon Jeong gave a lecture on the theme of 「Strategies for nurturing national talents for future growth engines」 at the conference and took the lead in the panel discussion as a session chair.

▲Byung-Seon Jeong, President of KISTEP

As the era of technological hegemony approaches, the current situation is “a war to secure talent”, President Jeong said. He added, “In the era of technological hegemony, where advanced science and technology leads to national hegemony, excellent human resources become the core of national competitiveness.”

President Jeong overviewed the current status of Korean human resources policy from the perspective of growth/activity, exchange/ cooperation, and brain circulation, and suggested policy tasks including △creating the foundation for growth and activity of key talents, △building a dynamic industry-academic-research ecosystem, △policy direction of the transition to brain circulation.

▲ Panel Discussion (Photo by Seoul Economic Daily)

President Jeong emphasized that creating an environment where excellent talents can freely demonstrate their capabilities is important. He also suggested that “close cooperation between industry, academia and research institutes should be strengthened so that the knowledge learned in school can be put to practical use in companies and research institutes.” In addition, he stated, “It is urgent to establish an international network that facilitates exchanges with excellent foreign talent.” Lastly, he emphasized the importance of support for talent growth and active investment in R&D.