Healthcare coupled with advanced ICT has significant potential to allow more people to freely access medical services. The 2017 Smart Healthcare Convergence Conference was successfully completed after introducing various aspects of smart healthcare incorporating AI(Artificial Intelligence), cloud, the IoT(Internet of Things), 3D printing, and other ICT achievements as well as medical technologies. ETRI and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety held the conference with an aim to share convergent products and technology and successful cases to lead the new healthcare paradigm driven by ICT. The areas of research and development introduced at the conference include medical 3D printing, medical IoT and applied technologies, medical AI, and wellness and wearable devices. ETRI will continue to boost cooperation to enter into an era of IDX(Intelligent Digital Transformation) to ensure convergence and innovation of ICT and various industries.

ETRI signed a business agreement with KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in the areas of education and research to contribute to enhancing national competitiveness and technological development. Both institutions agreed to initiate mutual cooperation to plan research activities and joint efforts dedicated to addressing social issues. Under the agreement, KAIST will employ more ETRI researchers as adjunct professors, and ETRI will offer more educational opportunities to KAIST students in practical research fields and create quality jobs for talented future researchers. The ETRI-KAIST agreement is expected to tap into the R&D resources held by the university and research institution and make significant contribution to improving national competitiveness and creating innovative technologies.

What changes will the Fourth Industrial Revolution bring to the future society? And how should we respond to such transformation? On December 1, ETRI holds its educational road show titled 'Fourth Industrial Revolution and Transformation in Future Society', with an aim to grow into a 'First Mover' by implementing programs to develop the capacity of scientists and engineers in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In the event with two sessions for science and society, renowned speakers give lectures in each session, followed by talk shows. Inviting the participants to use their mobile phones to present their opinions and questions and respond in polls, the event is expected to serve as a venue for sharing various ideas about transformation in the future society.

Big data and cloud services are now recognized as core technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, prompting a number of researchers in Korea and around the world to develop advanced technologies in the field. Against this backdrop, ETRI had its technology accredited as an international standard for vitalizing distribution of big data, at the standardization meeting of the International Telecommunication Union held in Geneva, Switzerland, in November. The new standard technology is called 'big data exchange framework and requirements(ITU-TY.3601)', which had been developed over the past three years at the standardization meeting of the future network standardization study group(SG13). The accreditation secured a standardization foundation to facilitate the national project of public data opening and create an ecosystem for big data distribution. The new standard is anticipated to increase the quantity of available data once it becomes widely used for future big data distribution and data markets.

The Korea ICT Roadshow was held in Thailand and Vietnam to help Korean small ICT businesses enter into overseas markets. Organized by ETRI, the roadshow was attended by eight ICT companies in Korea, and a total of 50 technologies with potential in the local markets were selected for the show based on the demand survey among the local companies. ETRI has offered customized assistance for companies hoping to access global markets by helping them prepare company introductions and other necessary documents in English, offering corporate publicity training, and introducing cooperative business partners in the United States and Europe. The roadshow consisted of an introduction of technologies available for overseas market entry, a technology conference to introduce localization strategies, and technology consultations tailored for each company. The event is of significance in that it laid a foundation for importing Korea’s advanced ICT achievements to countries with technological demand.

ETRI recently received welcoming visitors from Austria. The delegates of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, businesspeople in Austria, and a group of journalists visited ETRI to learn about the R&D status in Korea and ETRI’s major achievements of technology development. The Austrian visitors had a tour around the ETRI building to study major research progress and also visited the exhibition hall. The visit is expected to lead to close cooperation with the universities, public institutions, and companies in Austria through joint research and R&D collaborations.