The 'Software Wave Summit 2017,' hosted by the Soft Wave Organizing Committee, was held at COEX on the 15th. Held in conjunction with the Soft Wave 2017 exhibition, the summit took place under the theme "The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Software is the Protagonist."

Lee Jae-hong, Director General of Venture Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, delivered a keynote speech on opportunities for South Korea in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He stated, “While IT supported people up until the Third Industrial Revolution, it will take the lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” adding that “convergence is necessary as a new growth engine for the future.”
He emphasized, “Just as mergers and acquisitions are actively taking place among large corporations and manufacturing companies have transformed into software firms, we must become ‘Pi Plus’ type talents who are creative and imaginative, possessing expertise in design, psychology, English literature, and voice-based IT.”

According to this policy official, there is currently no legitimate method for predicting the future regarding new growth engine businesses. He argued that relying on the opinions of a few experts to predict the future lacks objectivity and is insufficient for accounting for unforeseen future variables. He suggested the structure of Silicon Valley and collective intelligence as points of reference. A culture of generating ideas, selecting good ones for active investment, and using open platforms such as open source and cloud has played an effective role in forming the ecosystem.

Park Jae-moon, Chairman of the Korea Information and Communications Technology Association, stated that "national response strategies to the Fourth Industrial Revolution involve leveraging strengths," and emphasized the need to utilize Korea's strengths in high-speed communication infrastructure and the manufacturing industry.
The U.S. government-led initiatives included the CPS convergence project, Germany promoted smart factories through the convergence and standardization of manufacturing, and Japan pursued the New Robot Strategy.

Chairman Park emphasized that the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), composed of global private companies, “enables the participation of 260 private companies, universities, and institutions to play a role in standardizing open platforms, acting as a taskbed, and building relationships,” adding that “domestic companies must also strengthen strategic partnerships.”

It was also pointed out that open collaboration would not be difficult for domestic companies, especially since they have been engaged in a struggle for survival. He added, “It is important to reflect on whether we possess the technology to lead change ourselves and to cultivate intelligent information technology capabilities to foster a convergence ecosystem.”

And '5G' was cited as one of the pan-national projects. It was argued that the discovery of 5G services is necessary to enhance national competitiveness, stating that 5G will not merely increase internet speeds for customers but will “strengthen connectivity and create ripple effects through its role in building virtualized networks.”