President Moon Jae-in pledged Wednesday to introduce a "regulatory sandbox" for new industries so that companies can freely test innovative ideas, products and services without the fetters of regulations.
Moon made the remark during the first meeting of the presidential Commission on Fourth Industrial Revolution established to come up with measures to foster creative ideas and products in the era of the so-called fourth industrial revolution fueled by advances in artificial intelligence and information technology.
"We're going to create an innovative ecosystem where startups prosper and new industries are created," Moon said. "We will introduce a regulatory sandbox so that companies in new industries can do business without regulations for a specific period of time."
Moon also pledged to expand investment in such sectors as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and big data, while improving regulatory systems. He picked autonomous vehicles, smart factories and drones as leading sectors of the fourth industrial revolution that will receive government backing.
(Yonhap)
Moon said South Korea's information technology industry is among the best in the world but is losing its shine. He said that the country should take advantage of artificial intelligence and information technology as a chance to make another leap forward.
"I expect the launch of the Commission on Fourth Industrial Revolution will mark the start of our efforts to create blueprints for innovation-led growth and explore future growth engines for our economy," he said.
Such efforts, however, will have little or no meaning unless the benefits of a new industrial revolution can be shared and enjoyed by the people," the president noted.
"The fourth industrial revolution too must be centered around the people," he said. "The human-centered economy that the new government is aiming for is an economy where the focus of economic policies is on people and households, and the fruits of growth are shared by the people."
Moon urged efforts to make sure that advances by firms in the new industrial sectors will lead to new quality jobs, also calling for efforts to make sure no one is left out.
"(We) must also come up with effective strategies for innovation-led growth and the fourth industrial revolution so that the people will feel the changes," the president said. (Yonhap)
