Why Does Korea Blockchain Institute Have a Reputation of a “Blockchain Military Academy”?
July 16, 2020, 15:15 Source: People’s Daily Online — Korean Channel
Blockchain is one of the core components of Industry 4.0. It has gained traction and has been developing vigorously. In the coming 4 years, the Korean Government will invest KRW 300B (about USD 250M) in blockchain technology development. Today, we visit the training base for blockchain experts, Korea Blockchain Institute, to learn about blockchain education and development in Korea.
Reporter (R): Hi, everyone! This is People’s Daily Online Korea. Today we are lucky to visit Korea Blockchain Institute. We will know about blockchain education and development in Korea. Hi, Mr. Secretary! Please introduce blockchain education and development in Korea to People’s Daily Online.
Korea Blockchain Institute Secretary Do Sang Hyuk (D): Hi, everyone! I am the Secretary of Korea Blockchain Institute Do Sang Hyuk. Korea Blockchain Institute (KBCI) is a professional education institution established in April 2018. It has the full financial support of the Ministry of Science and ICT of the Korean Government. Before 2022, it will train 10,000 experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain. As a professional education institution in the field of blockchain, it has undertaken a large-scale education project of the Korean Government.
R: What is special about Korea Blockchain Institute?
D: The key feature of Korea Blockchain Institute is introduction of the incubator management system. It not only includes blockchain education but also provides one-stop support services for employment, entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises.
R: This year, Korean Ministry of Science and ICT announced the investment of KRW 40B (about USD 33M) in blockchain development. Please tell us your thoughts on future blockchain development in Korea. What are the future development plans for Korea Blockchain Institute?
D: In the coming 4 years, the Korean Government will invest over KRW 300B (about USD 250M) in blockchain technology development and vigorously promote the application of blockchain technology. It includes realization of transparent voting and billing and prevention of accounting forgery. Korean Government is accelerating the application of blockchain technology to various industries. Since the establishment in 2018 till the first half of 2020, Korea Blockchain Institute trained a total of 1,300 experts in blockchain and AI. In the coming 2 years, we plan to train at least 1,500 more experts. We believe that calling us a “blockchain military academy” is not an exaggeration. In the future, we will strive for even higher professionalism. In addition to blockchain, we will further expand to AI and ICT (information and communication technology) integration. Besides that, China and Korea are strategic partners. We hope to share and exchange the accumulated development experience and education courses with Chinese partners through academic institutions, universities, forums and other channels.
R: Hello, Chairman Shan!
Korea Blockchain Institute Chairman Michael Shan (S): Hello.
R: Blockchain is a developing information technology and public attention to it has been increasing. Please introduce blockchain technology to everyone.
S: Sure. Hi, everyone! I am Chairman of Korea Blockchain Institute Michael Shan. It is a great honor to be interviewed by People’s Daily Online. Blockchain is an information technology term. It is essentially a shared database. Data and information in it are fully traceable, protected from tampering, maintained collectively, are fair and transparent. Blockchain has been widely mentioned in recent years. I think there are two reasons for it. First, the valuation increase of digital assets represented by Bitcoin has created a lot of myths about wealth. People started to pay more attention to the underlying technology behind these digital assets, namely blockchain technology. Second, with the social development and progress of science and technology, blockchain technology will be more integrated into people’s daily life, making it more convenient.
R: As a blockchain research and education institution licensed by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea and the earliest such institution in South Korea, what courses do you currently offer?
S: I think the most characteristic course of our institution is the 6-month core training for young people. It has 3 months of theoretical studies and 3 months of practice. After 6 months of study, we contact well-known blockchain enterprises in Korea to hold employment seminars and help students get employed. Next, we have also held different professional technology training courses for blockchain with Seocho District of Seoul and other regions of Korea, including a 1-month core technology development course. Besides these, we also hold week-long blockchain introductory courses to help more people understand blockchain. We also have a special feature. We invite industry leaders and scholars to give special lectures to the Blockchain Institute from time to time so that our students can better understand the development and status of blockchain.
In the development process, our institute is looking forward to working with other countries, including China, to make joint research and education on blockchain development. We hope we can cultivate more professionals. Thank you.
R: I would like to thank you two very much for your valuable time and for letting us better understand the Korean blockchain industry. Thank you.
S: Thank you.
Original article and video interview in Chinese: http://korea.people.com.cn/n1/2020/0716/c407366-31786386.html
