With our K-Tech, we must seize the opportunities for great changes that will never come up again. We must proactively respond to new changes to seize the new opportunities a new paradigm shift will bring.

As we enter into a new great industrial transition period represented by digital innovation and carbon neutrality, Korean companies face golden opportunities to leap into becoming global leaders. We must further extend our lead over rivals in our competitive areas, and must proactively respond to new changes to seize the new opportunities a new paradigm shift will bring. Based on so-called ‘K-Tech,’ which dominates over our competitors, we must seize the great opportunities that will never come again.

Now, we have to open up our future by strengthening our industrial & technical competitive edges based on ‘K-Tech,’ a new symbol of trust and cutting-edge technologies.

Since its founding in 1979, for the last 40 years, Korea Industrial Technology Association(KOITA) has been committed to strengthening Korean technical competitiveness, a driving force for Korean industrial development. Thanks to our efforts, the number of Corporate R&D Centers has exceeded 40,000 in South Korea, and the total amount of R&D investment has risen to the fifth largest level in the world.

Now, KOITA leads new innovation issues to secure the growth momentum of Korean economy, and will establish itself as ‘the best innovation platform that opens the future of K-Tech.’ We at KOITA will be a ‘giant convergence community’ in which all industries such as manufacturing, information technology (IT), finance, and culture can participate as our members via technical innovation.

To this end, we have set out four major missions: 1) Creating a sustainable growth environment, 2) Leading digital innovation, 3) Advancing openness and cooperation, and 4) Expanding the innovation ecosystem driven by the private sector.

In order to create a sustainable growth environment, we will play a leading role as a hub for technical development and public-private cooperation, which involves forming a private leading group that points the way to carbon-neutral technology innovation, as well as playing a role as a public-private connector through solidarity with R&D consultation groups, related organizations, and companies. We will present better practical alternatives to carbon neutrality from a business viewpoint, and will strive to spread technical innovation for carbon neutrality across all industries. Moreover, we will spare no effort to support the establishment of a Korean ESG ecosystem to fit the reality of Korean companies.

To lead the digital innovation across all South Korean industries, we will develop the Korea DT Initiative as the center of domestic and overseas digital innovation networks, and will also lead discussions on core tasks such as data sharing between industries.

For the advancement of openness and cooperation, we plan to strengthen supports for convergence and cooperation activities such as mutual growth and promotion of exchanges between different industrial sectors. We also hope to develop into a convergence and cooperation platform to grow a network of 100,000 innovative companies. We will create a new platform service where any company who wants to cooperate can easily find a good partner.

To spread the private-led innovation ecosystem, we will take the lead in establishing a new national R&D system in which the public and private sectors work together, and creating a social atmosphere of respect for companies' technical innovation efforts. We will build up the influence of Korean private R&D consultation groups so that they can be reflected on the Korean overall national R&D policies, beyond their conventional role of conveying corporate opinions.

In addition, we will make more effort to increase member satisfaction by developing unique innovative services that contribute to the expansion of activity areas for KOITA members and the creation of their values as well. We will provide our brand new value services by discovering not only the apparent demands of KOITA members, but also their hidden demands using big data and AI.

KOITA has accumulated much experience and know-how as a central institution for Korean industrial promotion and technical innovation over the last 40 years. Using this experience and know-how, we will take the lead in ‘working together for technical innovation’ rather than ‘working by myself,’ and will continue to support our proactive attitudes and innovation.

We ask for your interest and support so that KOITA can prepare for tomorrow as your good partner in industrial technology innovation and can lead a better future through ‘K-Tech.’
Thank you.