K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016

Overall

  • Title: K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016
  • Date: 28~29 April, 2016
  • Venue: Conrad Hotel, Seoul (Plenary, Breakout Sessions)
  • Host: MoneyToday Media

Past Events Review

K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 was held at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul on April 28-29, 2016. The global conference hosted by MoneyToday was much anticipated by about 1,700 participants as a conversational AI platform was used to announce the opening of the conference.

Every year, K.E.Y. PLATFORM presents an innovation report at its plenary session. To produce this report, MoneyToday’s Special Coverage Team meets in person with global innovative enterprises and great scholars every year. For this year’s report, the team visited 100 innovative companies and universities in many countries including the U.S., the Netherlands, Sweden, China and the U.K. to ask their management teams and scholars about new technologies in the digital economy and driving forces to break away from the low-growth trajectory.

K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 addressed various topics including “what is globalization by the Fourth Industrial Revolution” and “how should the Korean economy, industry and companies respond to it” under the theme of “Globalization 4.0: K-Coding the Unicorn.” In the world of the Internet of Everything, individual products, however competitive they may be, are very likely to be converged gradually with other products, “softized” or become commodities from which it is hard to generate profit margins. K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 concentrated on the flexibility of enterprises to respond to the global markets that had been integrating rapidly to overcome this trend. The participants also agreed that it was essential to discover unicorns that have the globalization DNA early at the beginning of operations.

In the plenary session, FiscalNote CEO Tim Hwang gave a presentation on “Fostering Algorithm for K-Unicorn.” Mr. Hwang, co-founder of FiscalNote that offers legal and policy analytics platforms in the U.S., was named on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. He said that unicorns who can offer customized devices on the strength of collaboration and data as well as a corporate culture that promotes prompt action is a formula for success in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He also cited fast corporate responsiveness to global industrial changes as a critical success factor. The second presenter at the plenary session was Lori Hamilton, Director of Commercial Technology for Corning Glass Technologies. She emphasized the importance of communication, saying that it was essential to transmit a massive quantity of data in the age of the Internet of Things backed up by interactive devices, connected cars and other future devices.

Measures to Establish K- Unicorn Ecology

In the next session, Draper Athena Managing Director Perry Ha, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies CEO Claus Kjeldsen, Maastricht University Professor Paul Iske, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan, Sookmyung Women's University Professor Hyosang Ryou, and Nyenrode Business University Fellow Herman Mulder participated and reviewed the plenary report. They all agreed that big-data-based algorithms and AI technology would change the rule of the game for the consumer market as suggested by the K.E.Y. PLATFORM plenary report. The plenary reviewers identified new information and telecommunication (IT) technologies, which were leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as the driving force to get us out of the low-growth trajectory.

The breakout sessions were divided as follows: “Next Generation of the Global Finance Industry” session on sustainable development in the changing finance industry; “L.T.D.-nomics” session on cooperation models for Korea, China and India in diverse business groups; “Culturing the Innovator’s DNA - Learn from Europe’s Startup Ecosystems” session on conditions of success for startup ecosystems in Europe; and “Media: Beyond the Border” session on cooperation models in global media markets.

On the second day, a two-way practical workshop called “Plug in & Talk” was held. Various lectures were provided under the theme of “Algorithms that Change the World.” In Plug-in & Talk, technology industry and startup ecosystem experts gathered to discuss how and where global algorithms that improved corporate performance could be used. In the last session to wrap up the modules, representatives from startup companies engaged in artificial intelligence participated as panelists to tell the audience vivid stories of what actually happened in the industrial fields.

Unlike the previous conferences, many foreign participants were found among the audience. After listening to lectures through the translation receiver, Korean and foreign participants had lively discussions exchanging their views.

Session Theme

Globalization 4.0: K-Coding the Unicorn

From fantasy to reality: Unicorns

You meet unicorns now and then in books of world literature – that white horse with a single straight horn projecting from its forehead. This creature locked in human imagination unlocked itself to us at the turn of the 21st century.
A unicorn is a start-up company valued at over 1 billion dollars. Many of the global giants, such as Google, Facebook and Alibaba were once a start-up and unicorn. Airbnb, Uber and Xiaomi are also great examples of unicorns. Among Korean companies, Coupang and Yello Mobile can be cited as unicorns.
There are no unicorns in real life for us to see. It metaphorically indicates that it is that difficult for a start-up to survive and grow into a unicorn. There are only a total of about 200 unicorns in the world.

Fourth Industrial Revolution, the matrix for unicorns

The business models of unicorn enterprises revolve around software services, electronic commerce, and online-to-offline (O2O) commerce. It is no accident that the emergence of unicorns dovetails with the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution will not end with the convergence of manufacturing and ICT industries. The advent of a new economy has changed the grammar of success for businesses. Fast-moving cultures, collaborations and data-based customer-specific devices have touched the hearts of consumers.

A hundred unicorns – Processes that they have in common

The 100 unicorns that K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 has met share one common stem in the innovation process, regardless of their industrial fields. They persist in exploring for points of contact where product and market meet. They are quick to seize opportunities at hand.
Unicorns have an uncommon gift of discovering hidden desires of universal humanity. They have built new platforms and have managed data to bring them into reality. They have retained the best talent in traditional computer sciences. In addition to this, they have involved anthropologists, physicists, historians, biologists and ecologists in multidisciplinary research. They also pursue a corporate culture that takes pride in open platforms, convergence and innovation, and prompt experiments.
When they ran into language barriers, they climbed over them with digital language, coding. Two global companies, GE and Siemens, have digitalized the entire infrastructure underlying human life. They collected and analyzed data and predicted the future. This has expanded the markets very rapidly.

PLENARY SESSION: We experience our future “ahead of time.”

Three years ago, a new report that the world had never seen before was introduced to us. “Global Scenario for 2018” was presented at the plenary session of the first K.E.Y. PLATFORM Conference held on June 18, 2013. This report provided penetrating analyses by the world’s greatest minds. We could experience crucial defining moments of the future as many as five years ahead.
At the plenary session of the second K.E.Y. PLATFORM on April 23, 2014, we witnessed global business models disintegrate. We watched the scenes through the vivid experiences told by 100 innovative companies from around the world.
During the plenary meeting for the third K.E.Y. PLATFORM on April 23, 2015, we learned from global innovators how they responded to uncertainty of the future. We were introduced to their secrets to becoming an “ambidextrous” organization that could execute both exploration and exploitation.
This year, we would like to talk about the “innovation targets at which our power of execution should take aim” at the fourth K.E.Y. PLATFORM Conference to be held on April 28. This is really about how we should respond to a new wave of globalization. Whether we want it or not, a type of globalization that human beings have not experienced before is spreading across the entire economy and industry. The persistent trends of slow growth as well as the Fourth Industrial Revolution to overcome them demand that we break away from the past at once.
The upcoming plenary session will introduce 100 innovative enterprises that are shifting global paradigms in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and online-to-offline (O2O) commerce. A globalization response manual (algorithms) will also be presented, which has been produced based on the coverage by MoneyToday’s journalists who visited the aforementioned companies in person.
MoneyToday will invite entrepreneurs, scholars and policy experts from many countries including the United States, China, India, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark to present globalization strategies that Korean enterprises need at the plenary session this year. K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016’s plenary session will offer you a golden key to the future of hope.

Breakout Session 1: Next generation of global finance industry

When viewed from the perspective of globalization, finance has both extremes. As finance by nature is swayed by the speed of monetary flow and the size of monetary trade, the financial service industry had revealed its universal aspects across the world even before advances in ICT came to be. The industry has also shown regional diversity because its great influence on the economy makes it necessary for the government to protect its operations as well as regulate them at times.
For years since 2008, the finance industry has focused on freeing itself from the paradigms of the Age of Bubbles due to deleveraging and stronger regulations at the global level. Whether at home or abroad, it has concentrated more on “strengthening the profitability” of existing businesses. For this reason, when the finance industry talks about innovation, the general perception is that it refers to “cost savings,” the transparent management of risks pursuant to the new regulatory environment or investments in “technologies” in line with the intents of government policy.
A new financial paradigm has now begun to establish itself in many corners of the world. Not only a technology-based financial service called “FinTech” but also finance for “co-existence” has been taking up a leading position in big markets such as Europe, the United States and China. In other words, the globalization of new finance (finance converging with technology) has started. In the meantime, for the traditional finance industry, which has been focusing on loans and investments for primary, secondary and tertiary industries such as resources and infrastructure, the time has come to restructure itself. Global mega banks that have been driving it have been cutting down on their businesses and strengthening their fundamentals again.
Hence, K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 aims to address both of the following topics: the underlying paradigm shift in the finance industry that is based on “cloud computing” and “big data,” as well as opportunities in traditional investment and loan businesses as we learn from global mega banks. We will hear from experts sitting on EU committees about the EU’s daring plan for digitizing finance within the region at once. Also, we will sit together with experts in charge of traditional investment and loan processes at mega banks and seek opportunities for collaborations in such fields as energy, logistics and agriculture for which Korea has not ever had an opportunity.

Breakout Session 2: L.T.D.-nomics

With its “7-percent annual growth target (baoqi)” policy at its end, China has drawn a new industry map. The country proclaimed an “Internet Plus” initiative that combines manufacturing industries with the latest information technologies (IT), indicating its will to take off as a technology-intensive “smart manufacturing” power.
India, which used to be a prime outsourcer for simple data center operations or IT services, is also changing. The Indian government launched an initiative called “Start-up India, Stand up India,” declaring that it will foster IT startups. It is only a matter of time before India will grow to be a new leader in the IT industry as it is equipped with an extensive pool of outstanding IT talent.
It is time for Korea to come up with a new industrial blueprint by making its manufacturing industry smarter and more software-based. It can secure higher competitiveness if it improves its industrial structure and fundamentals by reestablishing its relationship with China and partnering with India, one of the sources for a new growth engine.
K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 intends to propose “L.T.D.-nomics” where Korea should seek ideas for growing in global markets and create new markets through win-win and collaborative partnerships with China and India. “L.T.D.” stands for the initials of Lion, Tiger and Dragon, which represent India, Korea and China, respectively.
K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 will invite the CEOs and key executives of major companies leading innovation in China and India and read into paradigms to draw up a new blueprint for future businesses by which Korea and the two countries will lead the world together.

Breakout Session 3: Culturing the Innovator’s DNA - Learn from Europe’s startup ecosystems

Where do ideas changing the world come from? Do they come only from large companies that are well-structured and well-organized? Hardly. Rather, they come, more often than not, from young, lively and bubbly startups. In this age when globalization is happening through extreme digitization, all industries are becoming smarter at keeping with ICT advances.
The driving forces behind this change are new technological breakthroughs such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Everything (IoE) and robotics. Such a technology is not born of the brain of one genius. It takes young entrepreneurs, skilled workers with years of experience, strategic investors and scholars in various fields to exchange their thoughts and ideas.
Ultimately, an idea that has the potential for commercial success can be created only when exchanges of better understandings and better “readings” of human beings are ensured. In other words, it is a result of the synergy effects that you can produce through interdisciplinary research.
K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016 paid attention not only to ideas themselves but also to processes and operating models―that is, how they are born and turned into a business and how they affect traditional industries. MoneyToday’s special coverage team gathered together case studies on the startup ecosystems of the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and the United States as well as their innovative operators. In the “Culturing the Innovator’s DNA” breakout session of K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016, you will gain the secrets of building a startup ecosystem that will help give birth to more global enterprises in Korea.

Breakout Session 4: Media: Beyond the border

China has seen its media world change faster and more practically than any other countries in the world. The main drivers of such a fluctuation are ‘capital’ and ‘human resources’.
The sources of the capital are Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (BAT), IT giants in China. , CCTV’s major program, introduced Tencent WeChat’s ‘Shake’ and Alibaba Alipay’s ‘Five Blessings’ last year and this year, respectively. The two functions have gained great popularity, leading a series of technology and broadcast-based products to be continuously released. If viewers shake their smart phones or select one of the letters signifying Five Blessings after activating WeChat and Alipay, New Year’s cash gifts are given via their mobile phones. The companies have an ambitious plan to establish a giant media world through a combination of their core capabilities and a broadcasting system. That is why they are competing to acquire newspapers and video platforms.
However, it is people that have brought about bigger changes. One-man media led by post-80s and post-90s generations have brought a new sensation to China’s startup world. Millions of one-man media have acted as mentors for startups and existing businesses. Their new ideas have supported Chinese firms to further grow in a sustainable way.
India’s media world has also grown significantly. The Indian government has played a leading role in opening its media market to global players, carrying out market liberalization policies. India’s media market is forecast to grow an annual average of 14.2% by 2018. In particular, its mobile media market is projected to expand by about 30%, highlighting its attractiveness.
India has witnessed its demand for video contents grow rapidly. It’s because it has directly moved into the era of mobile communications without experiencing the age of PC.
“Digital India” featuring smart phones priced at only KRW 5,000 will open a new world for a huge number of middle-class Indians with great potential. In the new world, “K-contents’ will be solidly positioned as one of the major players.
The 2016 K.E.Y. PLATFORM will serve as a venue for Korea, China, and India to discuss ways to cooperate in creating new media markets.

WORKING PROCESS

MoneyToday Media set up a taskforce with team members highly experienced in global markets including journalists with backgrounds in multi-national corporations, foreign affairs correspondents, and China experts in order to propose a direction for new globalization in the hyperconnected age at the “K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2016.” They visited many of the greatest minds on globalization in person to get insights on future aspects of globalization.
They met about 30 leading experts including global strategists in the world’s top business schools including Harvard Business School (HBS), Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), Columbia Business School (CBS) and MIT Sloan School of Management (SSM) as well as professors of sociology, history and economics at University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University and Princeton University. Listening to their thoughts on globalization enabled the K.E.Y. PLATFORM team to build a framework for new globalization.
Based on the framework, we interviewed the CEOs and global strategists of innovative companies in advanced countries such as Israel, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and France in addition to China’s Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba as well as India’s Reliance, Tata and Mahindra. We also listened from them about what they actually agonize over to bring their globalization efforts to success. In Silicon Valley in particular, a mecca for global innovators, we paid intensive visits to dozens of companies to ask them about a new global market as they pictured it as well as their own global strategies to respond to it.
As manifested in Germany’s “Industry 4.0” and China’s “Internet Plus,” countries around the world are making endless attempts at creating new value from a combination of traditional smokestack industries and the latest information technologies, and diverse industries are actually converging and combining as a result. Under these circumstances, finding an answer to the new globalization wave is a hot topic around the world. A war for hegemony in global markets has already begun in new technology fields poised to be future growth engines, especially big data, AI, IoT, robotics and 3D printing.
As described above, the K.E.Y. PLATFORM team has put together the pieces of “Globalization 4.0,” visiting the exciting fields of globalization in person and witnessing globalization at work with their own eyes.
MoneyToday Media has found secrets to globalization that the world’s great scholars and innovative companies have in common: Start from a deeper understanding of human beings and create and apply algorithms for solving complex problems involved. Based on this analysis, we are planning to organize this conference into a “global platform” to help create Korean algorithms that will sweep across the world.