IoT devices expected to reach 50 billion by 2020
Only 2.3% of government R&D budget is for ICT talent
Government, education, and business need hyperconnectivity and hyperintelligence

It seems like it's been hundreds of millions of years since the Fourth Industrial Revolution was a topic of conversation among the public. We've been hearing it over and over again that we need to prepare for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. But are we actually preparing for it, not just in words?

The 4th Industrial Revolution is a revolution of super-intelligence in which people, objects, and spaces are hyper-connected and hyper-intelligent through ICT (Information and Communications Technologies). The number of objects connected to the Internet is expected to increase from 900 million in 2012 to 50 billion by 2020, and the amount of data that can be secured from these objects is increasingly becoming a measure of competition.
Data is a resource in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. Without data, nothing can be done. However, more important than data is the utilization of data. No matter how much data there is, it is just meaningless code in itself. It has no value. Data must be interpreted and utilized.

Ultimately, it is humans who decide when, where, and how to utilize data. In order to gain an advantage in competition in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, we must secure talents who know how to utilize data before securing data.


The reality of nurturing Korean ICT master's and doctoral degree holders
Korea has been touting itself as an IT powerhouse since the early 2000s, but it has shown a lack of talent development, which is the core of this. The amount of money spent on talent development among the government's R&D projects is only 2.3% of the total budget.

As a result, according to IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook targeting 63 major countries, Korea's talent competitiveness ranking has remained in the top 30 for the past 10 years. The competitiveness of university education is in the top 50, and the level of meeting corporate demand is also in the top 50, and the level of supply of high-level engineers is in the top 30.

Even this is expected to decline due to the sunset of the University ICT Research Center project that has continued since 2000.
It is expected that the industry will need 200,000 ICT master's and doctoral degree holders from 2021 to 2030, but the number of people produced in the education sector will only be 50,000. The gap between supply and demand can reach up to 150,000 people.


Voices from all walks of life
The industry wants to hire ICT personnel, but they complain that there are too few applicants. They also say that there is a shortage of creative and convergent talents who can work proactively and have problem-solving skills. In addition, graduate school graduates are not ready to work right away, so they need a year and a half of training, which is inefficient.

There are also complaints from the education sector. Each university wants to foster talent that companies want in order to increase employment rates, but companies are not actively participating. They also say that it is difficult to teach ICT masters and doctoral students the skills that companies want. In Korea, there are only a handful of people who can teach masters and doctoral students practical skills in topics such as AI, big data, and blockchain.

Students have their own complaints. They say that the poor educational environment and narrow government support have created an environment that is insufficient for leading capacity development. In a situation where the funding is centered on the research director, that is, the professor, it is nearly impossible for students to conduct leading research. In addition, the government’s business management direction, which does not tolerate failure and only evaluates performance, means that research conducted in graduate schools cannot help but flow toward conservatism and self-preservation rather than creativity and innovation.

In a way, it seems that companies and schools are passing the buck to each other in terms of who will develop ICT personnel. The education sector is unable to properly understand the talent needs of companies, and it is also difficult to open the courses that companies want. The industry cannot ignore the time and cost that goes into training new employees. In a situation where innovation cannot be hastily pursued due to the positions each party is in, government efforts are essential.


To improve the current situation
On October 31, the ICT Innovation Talent 4.0 New Business Public Hearing was held in Sangam-dong, Seoul. As the ITRC project, which started in 2000, is set to end in 2019, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Information and Communications Technology Promotion Center held this public hearing to promote follow-up projects, where professors, students, and industry professionals gathered to express their opinions.

The newly launched ICAN (ICT Challenge & Advanced Network of HRD) project is a graduate PBL course that integrates education and research in which ICT and non-ICT major graduate students solve real problems in the industry. Through real problem-solving projects, ICT and non-ICT major graduate students form teams and develop creative and convergent problem-solving skills. At the same time, they will also improve their practical capabilities by experiencing the project process in the industry in advance.

The ICAN project is planned to be completed by 2020 and will diversify performance indicators to complement the shortcomings of the ITRC project.
However, it is not something that can be achieved just by the government's efforts. The education sector and the industry sector are not the suppliers and demanders, but the two main axes that will lead the future of the Republic of Korea. Both the education and industry sectors must play a winning game. To do so, each must know how to capitalize on its own strengths and take advantage of the other's strengths. Of course, each must know how to kill its own weaknesses and complement the other's weaknesses.

We should not be trapped in the existing paradigm and confined to our own roles. In order to foster talents for the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, hyper-connected policies, education, and corporate cultures that fit the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution will be essential.