South Korean Government is focusing on passing Software (SW) Promotion Act, which will go through a complete revision after 19 years, by end of this year. South Korea’s SW industry is also helping South Korean Government to pass the bill that includes solutions for chronic issues related to SW. “SW is one of important keys to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and it is an industry that will determine a country’s competitive edge.” said Minister Choi Ki-young of Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) at ‘SOftWave 2019’ that was held at KOEX on the 4th. “We are going to do our best so that SW Promotion Act can be passed through the National Assembly as soon as possible.”
South Korean Government set up a joint task force (TF) with the industry and created a completely revised SW Promotion Act last year. The bill has gone through a drastic change since it was first proposed in 2000 to include information such as cultivation of talented individuals, intellectual property right, and SW safety according to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It adds key issues to develop an ecosystem for SW. The bill also talks about spreading the awareness on SW as SW has been used in various fields.
Although South Korean Government proposed the revised bill in March of last year, the bill has yet to pass through the National Assembly for more than a year. Although there was a public hearing regarding the bill, there has yet to be any proper discussion about the bill within the National Assembly.
The industry is also requesting for the bill to pass as soon as possible. “SW is a very important industry that will determine our competitive edge in the future.” said Chairman Lee Hong-ku of Korea Software Industry Association. “There can be a groundwork for securing the national competitive edge and the competitive edge within the industry once the bill is passed.”

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<250 companies and organizations participated in SOftWave that was held at KOEX on the 4th to introduce their latest ICTs such as AI, cloud, and blockchain. Staff Reporter Kim, Dongwook | gphoto@etnews.com>

The industry is focusing on strengthening relevant technologies in order to satisfy expectations once the bill is passed. About 250 companies had participated in SOftWave 2019 and introduced many new technologies and services. LG CNS introduced new services such as an automated solution called RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and AI tutor that can teach English according to a situation. TmaxSoft, TmaxData, and TmaxOS introduced AB2C2 (AI, big data, blockchain, cloud, collaboration) technology. HANCOM Group shared its major achievements centered on blockchain and AI technologies that it is pushing as new driving forces. Coocon showed examples of providing its 150 open APIs (Application Programming Interface) regarding MyData service and expense management service. Duzon Bizon shared major technologies of its business platform ‘WEHAGO’ and examples of various adoption of ‘WEHAGO’.
South Korea’s healthcare industry also shared its examples of SW convergence and SW-related technologies. Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service and Korea University Medicine’s P-HIS (Precision-Hospital Information System) Development Group set up a joint booth along with organizations and companies such as Samsung Medical Center, Softnet, and Huniverse that have participated in the P-HIS project. They displayed P-HIS that is in its final stage of development, mobile EMR (Electronic Medical Record), and lifelog module.
“Industries have been busy as digital transformation has been taking place within the government and South Korean companies.” said Chairman Park Jin-guk of Korea IT Service Industry Association. “We are going to focus on the development of new technologies and services that can satisfy expectations as soon as the bill is passed.”
Staff Reporter Kim, Jiseon | river@etnews.com