Korea Need to Overcome Anti-entrepreneur sentiment for Taking Another Leap Forward

The International Conference on Growth Engines of Korea opened at Grand Inter Continental Hotel in Samsung-dong, Gangnam, Seoul.

The two-day forum was co-organized by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy (MOCIE) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and gathered distinguished scholars and entrepreneurs from home and abroad. Among them are Guy Sorman, a French renowned scholar, John Naisbitt, the world‘s leading futurist, Paul M. Romer, Professor at Stanford University, and Seoul National University professor Chung Un-chan.

The foreign brains asked for promoting entrepreneurship, overcoming anti-entrepreneur sentiment, developing education and talented human resources, integrating merchandises and culture, and commercializing futuristic technologies in order for Korea to take another leap forward.

Naisbitt suggested, “the government should focus on nurturing entrepreneurship and refrain from direct intervention.“

Professor Romer noted, “Industrial competitiveness in the future depends on education and Korea should make efforts to attract foreign talents as much as foreign investment.“

“Let alone labor unionists, anti-entrepreneur sentiment prevails among many people including government officials, the academics, and the young generation“, said George Washington University professor Park Yoon-shik. He also said, “ this is the first hurdle for Korea to overcome before joining the world‘s advanced economies.“

Stanford University professor Yosho Nishi proposed that “In order for Korea to advance into technologically advanced nation, development of new technologies, rapid commercialization of the technologies, and exploring new markets are urgent.“

“Korean economy, whose growth has depended on extra input of labor and capital, has hit a snag, and therefore, future industry based on high-technology should be replaced as a new growth engine“, said Jean-Claude Berthelemy, professor at the University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne. He said, “Korean economy is currently standing at a crossroad, which can lead either to further advance or to setback.“

In the meantime, President Roh Moo-hyun, in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony, said that “Creating new growth engines is a way to save the nation from the trap of 10,000 dollars in per capita income and the last chance is within our reach.“

The president also added to say that “Government agenda and reform policies, prioritized by the participatory government, will be reviewed and revised so as to help generating next generation growth engines under the goal of increasing the nation‘s per capita income to 20,000 dollars.“

During this international conference, mega-trends in global economy and next generation growth engines in Korea were discussed yesterday. Discussion will be followed the day after on major key industries, promising industries in the future, and knowledge-based service industries.