All Speakers

LEE Jeong-dong

Professor, Graduate School of Engineering Practice, Seoul National University, Science and Public Policy (Oxford Journal), Editor

LEE Jeong-dong
Title [SDF2023 Research Findings - 1] The New Work of Nations: Technology Innovation and Economic Security
Times of the Remarks 2023. 11. 02. 09:40-10:25

LEE Jeong-dong received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees from Seoul National University, where he is currently a professor in the Graduate School of Engineering Practice and the Technology Management, Economics and Policy Program. His main areas of research are industrial engineering, productivity and efficiency analysis, evolutionary innovation theory, technological innovation strategies of companies, and technology innovation policies of governments. He is a full member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (2020-present) and National Academy of Engineering of Korea (2018-) and served as the president of the Korea Productivity Association (2011) and Korean Corporation Management Association (2017). He was previously co-editor of Science and Public Policy (Oxford Unversity Press), a leading international journal in technology and innovation, and chair of the organization committee of the Asia Pacific Productivity Conference (APPC) 2018 held in Seoul. His two published books are Theory of Efficiency Analysis and Engineering Technology and Policy (translated titles); he co-translated Theory of Evolutionary Innovation and has edited and published three books in English. He was the lead author of Accumulated Time (2015) and published An Accumulated Path (2017; both translated titles). He has presented over 150 academic papers in Korea and internationally on a wide range of topics related to the technology economy and innovation policy and was formerly a special advisor to the President of South Korea on economy and science (2019-2021).


[Session Title and Description]

Grand Quests: The Future of Science, Technology and Industry in Korea

Bold action and new approaches are urgently needed to ensure the continued competitiveness of our key industries beyond their current limits and usher in the creation of new industries. If Korea is to become a truly advanced country amidst the present competition for tech sovereignty, successfully asserting its dominance in global value chains on the back of creative and original technologies, we must set out to make our mark in unexplored areas, where the formula for success is still unknown.
The Seoul National University Institute for Future Strategy has identified ten bold and challenging questions covering a range of future science & technology fields. These are questions whose answers have yet to be figured out, but any clues that can be found in the search for answers have the potential to fundamentally alter the landscape of future industries. Given the high likelihood of failure along the way, not to mention the inevitability of continued trial and error, support at the national level is especially critical, including basic research support as well as proactive efforts by the public sector to discover where potential demand lies.