Korea’s ‘4th industrial revolution’ development lags behind US, EU, Japan: report

Technology and investments related to Korea’s competitiveness in the “fourth industrial revolution” is far behind other advanced countries such as the United States, Japan and Europe, according to the Hyundai Research Institute. 

The institute released a report on the international comparison of the research and development status of industries based on the fourth industrial revolution Monday, revealing that Korea’s total score for industrial technology evaluation was 77.4 points out of 100 -- a 22.4 point gap compared to the US, which was top with 99.8 points. 

Europe reached No. 2 with 92.3 points, followed by Japan with 90.9 points. China’s fourth industrial revolution development status was evaluated at 68.1 points. 

The report calculated scores based on a nation’s development according to five detailed industry-specific scores: IT services, communication services, electronics, mechanical equipment and biomedical products. 
 

Commentary by Youngah Kim, Education Services Manager in British Council Korea

Even though Korea is widely recognised as a nation with great IT skills, it seems that Korea is not quite ready for the “4^th Industrial Revolution” in technology and investment compared to other advanced countries. Korea is also experiencing professional skills shortages due to the lack of soft skills education in public schools. However, president Moon’s government decided to invest more budgets to create more jobs in the fields related to 4^th Industrial Revolution.

This means the demand for studying abroad in Automotive Engineering, Block Chain, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence Technology could increase, so that graduates can stand out in a competitive employment market.

This also means that there are potential partnership opportunities between local universities and UK institutions as the UK is widely perceived as having strength in these areas.