MoneyToday’s global conference, K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2020, was held at the Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul on May 28 and 29, 2020.

The process of making preparations for the 8th K.E.Y. PLATFORM conference was not exactly a bed of roses due to the COVID-19 virus sweeping the world. Experts and scholars who fly to Korea from all over the world every year could not cross the national borders bolted shut, causing a setback in the preparations for the conference that we had proceeded with since the second half of 2019.

However, the K.E.Y. PLATFORM turned this crisis into an opportunity as befits its reputation as a symbol of Korean innovation.

We ensured that we could listen, without difficulty, to speakers from the US and Europe for their insights by connecting with them through an online video conference system. Now a non-face-to-face or video conference may be part of daily life, but back then, it was a truly big challenge that had never been attempted by any of the large-scale global conferences. K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2020 won favorable responses from the audience with its theme that penetrates to the heart of our times facing a crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the theme, “Post-Pandemonium: Advent of a Surrogate Economy,” it presented outlooks on shifts of power in global politics and economy that would unfold in the post-pandemic era and discussed how we could create new opportunities through digital technology.

Edwin Feulner and researchers from the Heritage Foundation, one of the top US think tanks, as well as Silicon Valley startup founders and other overseas speakers met the audience on video. They delivered their insights vividly as if they were on site at the event hall. Timothy Hwang, CEO of FiscalNote that is attracting the world’s attention, as well as Science and Technology Policy Institute Research Fellow Sungjoo Hong and Soongsil University Professor HyoSang Ryou, visited the venue in person to connect with the audience and add to the liveliness of the event. Besides this, the Conference unveiled its vision of a new future by having global influencers – whose roles and importance are bound to grow bigger in this contactless age - depict what a surrogate economy would look like.

All the scheduled sessions and events including the preconference event were held with quarantine as the first priority. We held the conference safely and successfully even under the shadow of the ongoing pandemic by enforcing stricter prevention measures than the government guidelines.