ICT Convergence: The Core of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
| Following the example of the Netherlands and Ireland
| Held first in Naju, Jeonju, Busan, and Seoul

ICT convergence leads to increased productivity in traditional industries.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 13th that starting this year, it will provide the ICT Standard Insight (ISI) program to local businesses and university students to support the revitalization of the local economy.

The Ministry of Science and ICT planned the ISI, which educates the nation's top experts on core ICT technologies and convergence cases, such as AI, ICBM (IoT, cloud, big data, and mobile), with the aim of spreading ICT standard technologies centered on regional hubs, together with the Korea Information and Communications Technology Association, a domestic ICT standards organization.

The Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) of Korea plans to hold ISIs in Naju (Energy IoT), Jeonju (Smart Farm), Busan (Autonomous Ship), and Seoul (Software Convergence) in consultation with local organizations, and will expand nationwide by accepting applications from additional regions in the future.
Each region in the country is striving to revitalize the local economy by integrating local industries and ICT that can take advantage of regional characteristics, thereby increasing income and creating jobs.

In order to integrate ICT into traditional industries such as energy, agriculture, and shipping, a sufficient understanding of core ICT technologies, such as AI, is necessary. However, the reality is that this is facing difficulties due to a lack of technical experts and regional information gaps.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to support the development of specialized industries in each region by supporting the commercialization of regionally specialized technologies and the training of local talents, together with the country's top experts with extensive experience in ICT standards and technology commercialization.

We will be able to contribute to the revitalization of local industries through specialized support, such as customized ICT standard technologies tailored to each region's needs, courses for businesses on successful ICT convergence, and ICT standardization training for local university students.

Countries like the Netherlands and Ireland are also striving to advance the industrial structure of their entire nation, including overcoming the limitations of traditional industries and innovating local industries through the integration of ICT to create new added value.

In the Netherlands, the 'Precision Farming' project, launched in 2010, has achieved innovations in agricultural productivity, including reduced energy consumption and improved quality, by utilizing ICT such as GPS and IoT sensor technology in crop management.

Ireland is pursuing an innovative plan to prevent water waste and increase agricultural productivity by building an intelligent irrigation system called 'Waterbee' based on ICT technology to address the problem that 60% of the water resources used for crop cultivation are wasted each year due to inefficient irrigation systems.

Yong Hong-taek, Director General of Information and Communication Industry Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The core of the 4th Industrial Revolution is He said, “We will support companies and students in each region of the country to receive high-level ICT standard technology education.”