Global startups can look forward to network and attend learning sessions online this year for the Digital Economy Forum, hosted by the South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance and organized by Korea Startup Forum. The event, which is organized offline, will be virtual this year considering the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The Digital Economy Forum is an event designed to create a platform to raise awareness of digital transformation and share knowledge through private-public cooperation. It will be hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, headed by Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, and the Korea Startup Forum, headed by Chairman Seunggun Lee.

In its 3rd edition this year, Digital Economy Forum will take a look at the changes likely down the road and emerging outlook by paying attention to the digital economy amid an unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, under the theme of “POST-CORONA DIGITAL ECONOMY – Accelerating Digital Transformation for Genuine Innovation.”

Forum to have keynote speeches, panel discussions & sessions

The forum will include keynote speeches, panel discussions, and case presentations on innovative startups on four major topics: Digital Transformation & Policy, Entertainment &Media, Work & Job, and Healthcare. These topics have gained attention due to rapid changes in the post-coronavirus era. Over 20 global opinion leaders and experts from startups, government, and academia who are pioneering the digital economy will join the forum as speakers, sharing their in-depth insights.

The first keynote speaker, Peter Diamandis is an innovator and entrepreneur who founded the XPrize Foundation and Singularity University. AT DEF, he will present on “Post-Corona Digital Economy – Accelerating Digital Transformation for Genuine Innovation,” which will be followed by a Q&A session. In the afternoon, the second keynote speaker, Andrew Wyckoff, Director of Science, Technology, and Innovation at OECD, will share his insights on the solutions and strategies related to the digital economy in the time of digital transformation and contactless economy.

To enhance the knowledge sharing being facilitated in the discussions, the sessions have been jointly planned with partnerships with globally renowned specialized institutes and organizations. The following panel discussion sessions will set the stage for discourse on the four major topics. Session 1 on the theme of “Digital Transformation & Policy” will take a look at the changes in the digital economy ecosystem and digital transformation trends after the outbreak of the pandemic and get into details about the right direction of the digital economy and ‘new deal’ policy, which the Korean government announced recently. Sungjin Choi, Executive Director of Korea Startup Forum, will serve as a moderator, and panelists will include Taesik Yoon, Director for Policy Coordination at the Ministry of Economy and Finance; Arvind Gupta, co-founder of Digital India Foundation, and Christos Makridis, Digital Fellow of MIT Sloan School of Management. The panelists will share global cases and identify implications for Korea.

Session 2 is under the theme of “The Future of Entertainment and New Media,” jointly designed with The Miilk, a media startup that showcases innovative technologies from Silicon Valley. Presided by Insoon Kim, MD of The Miilk Korea, and panelists including Steve Lee, CEO of AmazeVR, a Korean startup active in Silicon Valley; Jinha Lee, Co-founder of SPATIAL; and Jaekwon Son, CEO of The Miilk, will predict changes in the media and entertainment sectors in the contactless environment and examine how user experience might evolve. Notably, they will showcase a contactless environment by attending this session in a virtual manner, wearing VR devices, which will be broadcast online in real-time.

Session 3 will observe changes caused by technology development when it comes to work life, such as new ways of work and collaboration between humans and robots, under the theme of “Work and Jobs”. Veikko Väyrynen, Vice President of Aaltoes; Finnish education startup Claned; Joseph Kim, the Head of Robotics Business at Woowa Brothers; and Donghwan Kim, CEO of 42MARU will take part in the discussion. The 4th session was jointly planned with ITU-WHO focus Group of AI4Health which plays a leading role in the global healthcare sector . Moderated by Sameer Pujari, Co-founder of Be He@lthy Be Mobile Initiative at WHO; and participation from panelists Naomi Lee, Senior Executive Editor of The Lancet; Brandon B, Suh, CEO of Lunit; and Yong Gi Jung, Vice Director of Medical AI Research Center in Samsung Medical Center, the panel will look into the changes and outlook of the healthcare industry after the coronavirus pandemic.

A special session will be held to introduce startups that have come up with various innovative products and services, by rapidly responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowbusking Company that expanded support for small business owners through its contactless service in the wake of COVID-19; Medihere that introduced remote video medical consultation; 24MARU, a QA artificial intelligence startup; Tosslab which operates a remote business collaboration tool; and Lunit, an AI-based healthcare startup, will share their innovative service and business insights in responding to the COVID-19.

Past success & future goals of the forum

Digital Economy Forum took its first step in November 2018 with the theme of “The Driving Force of Innovation.” In the following year, the forum paid attention to global unicorn companies that drive economic growth and technological innovation, and their impact in their respective countries. Various stakeholders leading the digital economy including Geoffrey G Parker, the author of Platform Revolution; Han Seong-sook, the CEO of NAVER; Sophie Viger, the Managing Director of 42; Christine Tsai of 500 Startups; visionaries from Kakao Mobility; Yanolja; Market Kurly; Gojek; ICONLOOP, etc. have participated in the forum. Though it has been carried out mainly offline, now it is shifting to an online forum to overcome the restrictions due to the pandemic. The event is poised to leap forward to become a global forum that presents a new form of knowledge sharing in the post-coronavirus era.

Celebrating the opening of the Digital Economy Forum, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Hong Nam-Ki, said “The Korean government plans to actively respond to economic and social changes in the post-coronavirus era through “Korean New Deal” which includes Digital New Deal.” He also added, “I hope this forum can serve as an opportunity to have an in-depth dialogue and initiate a policy discussion about the direction of the digital economy in the future after COVID-19 pandemic.”

Seunggun Lee, Chairman of Korea Startup Forum, shared – “In a situation where the global economic environment is wildly changing in an unprecedented fashion due to COVID-19 pandemic, now is the time for digital economy experts with a range of perspectives to pool their collective wisdom.” He also added – “This forum will set the stage through which we can review changes in life and industries in the digital transformation era, and discover insights that can accelerate innovation.”

DEF2020 will be broadcast live on September 11. Anyone interested in the forum and listening to the speakers can attend it for free of charge. For more details about the forum and registration,visit the official website https://def.or.kr/english/

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