The past, present, and future of the robot industry brainstormed by the government, associations, and the industry
 
On December 3, 2019, the Korea Association of Robot Industry was held the 20th-anniversary ceremony at the Kensington Hotel.
 
In the effort to stimulate the robot industry, various ideas ranging from self-reflection to encouragement for cooperation were exchanged among the experts from the relevant sector.
 
The event kicked off with the lecture by professor Oh Jun-ho from KAIST under the title, “The Past, Present, and Future of the Robot Industry.” Prof. Oh gave a presentation on the development of the robot market from its initial employment, saying, “Depending on how optimistic a view is, there is a gap around 10 times between the views in the market outlooks. However, they all come down to the same conclusion in terms of their positive growth.”
 
PD Lee Jun-seok from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (hereinafter, ‘MOTIE’) said, “To make Korea’s robot industry to the top four in the world, the government has planned to develop the robot market to 15 trillion KRW by 2023 and increase the number of robot companies with more than 100 billion KRW in sales to 20.”
 
He also said, “We predict that the robot market will grow bigger in the service area rather than the industrial area. In response, the government is focusing on four service robot sectors, care, logistics, wearables, and medical.”
 
After the keynote speech, Managing Director Kim Dong-hyeok (Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings), CEO Shin Gyeong-cheol (Yujin Robot), Team Leader Kang Kyu-hyeong (MOTIE), Chair Mun Seong-bin, Prof. Oh Jun-ho (KAIST), CEO Cheon Hong-seok (Twinny), and Senior Research Fellow Jeong Man-tae (KIET) gathered for a panel discussion to explore the direction of development of the Korea Association of Robot Industry.
 
Managing Director Kim from Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings expressed his appreciation towards the association that it had served as a window to provide various information about the robot companies in Korea, making it easy to access policies, technology development, and agendas related to the robot industry.
 
He continued by saying that the Korea Association of Robot Industry takes the role of the portal for Korea’s robot companies and easily compare and analyze individual companies’ corporate information, products, and technologies in one place. He added that gathering these promotional materials in one place would increase the accessibility to the corporate info on the demand side so that it would contribute greatly to the revitalizing of the market.

▲ Front view of the panel discussion