Speaker: Dr. James Won-Ki Hong, CTO KT (Korea Telecom) Title: Shaping the Future Society with ICT Convergence Date: Monday, May 20, 2013 Time: 12:00 pm Room: E-Quad, Room B327 Host: Princeton EDGE Lab and Princeton KSA Abstract: Korea, also known as the nation of Psy, is one of the most dynamic countries in the world. Thanks to advanced information and communications infrastructures and unique culture, people in Korea are said to be living in the future of many other countries. It is this customer environment that facilitated the emergence of instant messaging and social platforms such as Kakaotalk and Line. It may be surprising to know that the entire country of Korea was actually devastated by the Korean War more than 60 years ago. Many factors drove Korea’s development for the past 60 years. Not only did its high education fever and speedy culture but also the government's strong will and drive on ICT (Information and Communications Technology) development and decisive investments by private sector businesses, such as KT (formerly Korea Telecom), contributed to the Korea’s development. In fact, KT led the deployment of the most advanced wireline/wireless Internet infrastructure in the world during the last few decades. Now, KT is continuing to shape the society we live in with further advances in ICT. To bring the future into reality, KT is taking on numerous challenging and interesting problems in ICT convergence areas. In this talk, we will provide an outline of Korea’s ICT status, KT’s efforts in infrastructure deployment, and peek into future lifestyles based on emerging technologies. We also offer opportunities for talented students and researchers to collaborate with KT.