Choi Tae-won: "We Must Focus on Designing a Future Prosperous through Science and Technology"

Choi Jonghyun Academic Institute? The University of Tokyo Hosts the 4th Tokyo Forum

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is delivering the opening remarks at the 4th Tokyo Forum held at the University of Tokyo in Japan on the 1st.

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, emphasized that humanity must find solutions with flexibility and diversity beyond fixed ideas to design a better future.

According to SK Group on the 2nd, Chairman Chey attended the 'Tokyo Forum 2022,' jointly hosted by the Choi Jong-hyun Academic Foundation and the University of Tokyo, held at the University of Tokyo the previous day. He stated, "We all need to focus on designing a safer and more prosperous future," and added, "This forum, themed on the dialogue between philosophy and science, will serve as a platform to provide new ideas for solving various global issues."

The Tokyo Forum is an international forum hosted by the Choi Jong-hyun Academic Foundation and the University of Tokyo since 2019. This year, it was held both online and offline simultaneously for the first time in three years.

In his opening speech, Chairman Chey posed questions to the audience about what is needed to solve global problems and emphasized solutions by answering them himself.

He first explained whether science and technology could be new opportunities to address global risks. Chairman Chey said, "The current economic system, created 200 years ago, makes it difficult to measure social values such as pandemics and climate change and to create an environment that promotes such activities," emphasizing, "We must fully internalize social values through science and technology."

He also proposed creating a structure where the government redistributes wealth within the country by establishing a negative tax that rewards solving social problems.

Furthermore, Chairman Chey reflected on how to educate the younger generation for a better future, stating, "It is important to build a new education system that listens to the thoughts and imaginations of the younger generation rather than relying on the existing education system and reflects them."

He added, "We must have an open mind to find solutions to global problems and learn how to accept differences," and "It is necessary to think beyond frameworks and find practical solutions based on greater flexibility and diversity."

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is delivering the opening remarks at the 4th Tokyo Forum held at the University of Tokyo in Japan on the 1st.

In the forum's keynote speech, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized, "We face global uncertainties such as geopolitical risks, pandemics, and climate change, and global solutions are needed to address them," adding, "Through cooperation with stakeholders, we can find solutions for peace and a sustainable future through the 'dialogue between philosophy and science.'"

On the first day of the forum, panelists included Markus Gabriel, Chair Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bonn, Germany; Hiroshi Oguri, Director of the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Tokyo; Lee Seok-jae, Professor of Philosophy at Seoul National University; and Jeffrey Sachs, Professor at Columbia University, who discussed the dialogue between philosophy and science.

On the second day, the 2nd, panel discussions continued with participants such as Kim Hye-sook, Professor of Philosophy at Ewha Womans University; Kim Hyun-jin, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University; and Naoko Ishii, Director at the University of Tokyo, focusing on topics such as philosophy responding to various crises and the future of a society with robots and artificial intelligence.

An SK official stated, "This year's Tokyo Forum provided a venue to analyze major common challenges of the international community, such as war, pandemics, climate change, and environmental pollution, through the dialogue between philosophy and science, and to explore sustainable development directions and desirable future societies," adding, "We plan to make it a place to promote human exchanges in the international community, which had been restrained due to the pandemic."