Roboticist Dennis Hong: "Ideas Are Actions That Change the World"

Glocal Future Education Expo, Second Day Keynote Speech

World-renowned roboticist Professor Dennis Hong from the University of California delivered the keynote speech at the ‘2024 Korea Glocal Future Education Expo’ on the 30th.

On this day, Professor Dennis Hong said, “Creativity is not about creating something out of nothing, but the ability to connect unrelated things,” adding, “For this, one must have many experiences and memories. The beginning of creativity is curiosity.”

Professor Dennis Hong of the University of California delivered the keynote speech on the 30th at the '2024 Korea Glocal Future Education Expo.' Photo by Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

Professor Dennis Hong emphasized the importance of ‘creativity’ and ‘curiosity’ to change the world under the theme ‘Seeing Differently, Connecting Anew.’

As a roboticist recognized as a key figure in future core technologies, he spent most of his lecture explaining, in an engaging way through his own experiences, why creativity, curiosity, and diverse experiences are important when young people pursue their dreams.

Professor Hong, who contemplates the beautiful coexistence of robots and humans, said, “We develop technology and conduct research to change the world and improve human life.”

He continued, “Ideas are the starting point of actions that change the world, and the will to change the world is the source of ideas,” emphasizing, “The reason we created a car driven directly by a visually impaired person was because of that will.”

Professor Hong reiterated that having ideas that connect unrelated things is exactly ‘creativity,’ and to achieve this, one must constantly ask ‘why’ and maintain curiosity.

Following the lecture by Harvard Professor Michael Sandel the previous day, more than 900 seats were filled again by students and educational families from Jeonnam, who showed great sympathy for Professor Dennis Hong’s passionate lecture.

World-renowned roboticist Professor Dennis Hong is the person who developed the world’s first car driven directly by a visually impaired person. He has been named one of the ‘Top 10 Young Genius Scientists’ by Popular Science and received the ‘Young Scientist Award’ from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the United States.