Streams of data will bring in innovation in self-driving car and healthcare technologies, Samsung Electronics Co. President and Chief Strategy Officer Sohn Young-kwon said, urging business and government to prepare the era of the data economy by taking risk and reducing regulations.

“In just 60 seconds, Google deals with nearly 380,000 queries, and 3.3 million posts are uploaded on Facebook,” Sohn said at a session titled “Driving Innovation in the Data Economy” at the 18th World Knowledge Forum on Tuesday. “Such flood of data is creating new opportunities in the healthcare and self-driving car industries.”

Sohn added that the exponential rise in data with enhanced connectivity will finally allow artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) to lead innovation in human life. Accumulated data over the past decades is ready to make big changes in human life after it has been applied to various sectors such as healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture. New devices such as smartphones have served as catalyst in boosting new industries.

The Samsung executive expected that the data economy would have the most profound impact on healthcare and self-driving car industries. He projected it may cost only $100 to analyze human genome 10 years later and prevalent genome analysis would lead to new opportunities in the aging society by offering customized treatments and allow disease prediction.

Sohn cited strict regulations and a lack of entrepreneurship in Korea as obstacles in the era of data economy. The country’s so-called “pali-pali” or fast culture could help promote overall growth, but it also could defer advancement. Sohn urged companies to make long-term investment with patience looking ahead five to 10 years.

By Won Ho-sup and Lee Eun-joo

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