Industrial convergence has potential for job creation: expert

SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- The merging of technologies to create new products, a
trend called industrial convergence, could benefit South Korea's job market and
create new economic opportunities, a former executive of Motorola said Monday.
John Strassner told reporters at an international conference in Seoul the trend
has the potential to create jobs in South Korea and around the globe.
"The number of jobs (that can be created) will depend on how well different
industries can combine their technologies and products," he said.
Strassner, who was vice president of knowledge engineering at Motorola and a
research fellow at Cisco Systems Inc., said that people and industries have spent
too much time on technological solutions and not enough on user-friendly
products.
He declined to estimate how many such products could enter the market in the
coming years, but forecast that demand for industrial engineers, human machine
interface (HMI) experts and artistic designers could grow in the future.
"In particular, jobs in areas that mix HMI, computer sciences with other factors
like automotives may grow," he predicted.
He said Apple's iPhone is successful example of industrial convergence and said
that devices such as radio frequency identification tags are findings new
applications in health care areas.
Strassner, who is currently a professor at the division of information technology
(IT) convergence engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology in
South Korea, said the nation is currently in the process of establishing a health
infrastructure that makes full use of the country's strong IT and health
industries.
The "stumbling block" in South Korea's efforts to build up the convergence
industry is administrative red tape, he said.
"Bureaucracy can get in the way of innovation and I think people are scared of
working in areas outside their expertise," he said, stressing that such
reservations must be overcome for growth to take place.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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