Day one of the Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy was enlightening, thought-provoking and a fabulous networking event. It started with remarks from Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, regarding the growing importance of international manufacturing value chains.
Sang-Jick Yoon, Vice Minister for Industry and Technology, Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE), also added his welcoming remarks and noted that “Korea’s efforts for strengthening the Knowledge-based Economy will not be confined only within Korea. By holding this forum, we hope to become a bridge between the OECD member and non-member countries contributing to the spread of knowledge economy throughout the world. ” (full remarks here).
Further remarks were provided by Yong-Geun Kim, President, Korea Institute of Advanced Technology (KIAT), and Kyung Wook Hur, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Korea to the OECD and the Forum then commenced with about twenty additional excellent speakers grouped in discussion panels.
Day two is anticipated to be equally interesting with a focus on green and inclusive growth. As a current example of how business can be made more sustainable, I note an interesting article in yesterday’s Korea JoongAng Daily entitled Winning eco-product strategies. The author, Ha Joo-hyun, is a research fellow at the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) www.SERIworld.org.