The 19th World Knowledge Forum (WKF), the largest business forum in Asia, will kick off on Oct. 10 at Jangchung Arena and Hotel Shilla in central Seoul, with more than 250 global leaders to hold discussions under this year’s theme “Collective Intelligence: Overcoming Global Pandemonium.”

The annual three-day forum hosted by South Korea’s largest business media Maekyung Media Group will invite political, business and academic leaders from around the world to share their insights, including Janet Yellen, chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2014-2018).

H. R. McMaster, the 26th White House National Security Council Advisor of the Trump administration, will also give a speech on the shifting geopolitical dynamics surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

The forum will run about 100 sessions categorized under five tracks, or sub-themes. About 40 sessions would be devoted to the emerging blockchain technology and the era of fourth industrial revolution.

Kersti Kaljulaid, president of Estonia, one of the leading countries in blockchain, would speak about how the new technology has come to form the backbone of the country’s digital infrastructure.

Other key speakers include Rajeev Suri, Nokia’s chief executive credited as the driving force behind the company’s recent transformation; Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, the flying car division of ride-hailing giant Uber; and Eric Ly, co-founder of the world’s largest business social networking site LinkedIn.

Leaders from some of the biggest tech companies in China would also be in attendance, including Zhang Ya-Qin, president of internet search giant Baidu; Jane Jie Sun, chief executive of China’s biggest online travel agency Ctrip; and Chen Chi, founder and CEO of Xiaozhu, Airbnb’s major China rival.

Founded in 2000 with a mission to transform Korea into a knowledge-driven nation, the WKF has since invited a number of world-renowned speakers, including World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, Microsoft Corporation founder Bill Gates, Princeton University Professor Paul Krugman, Harvard University Professor Greg Mankiw, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

By Park Yong-beom and Kim Hyo-jin

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