— Overview
A student paper on how the fusion of technologies affects a society centres on NT, IT, and BT, and on IT convergence in particular. Fusion, as defined on the page, is the joining of two or more fields of science or scholarship in order to enlarge a synergy; the technologies that result, the writer holds, can solve problems that had not been solved and can raise the quality of a life. Figures in the paper are left in the window in which they were reported, and are not treated as current official totals.
The United States, the paper says, was putting 130 billion dollars a year into NBIC fusion research, centred on nanotechnology and joining NT, BT, IT, and cognitive science. Europe was investing 11.6 billion euros in interdisciplinary research. Japan had drawn up a strategy for the fusion of IT, BT, NT, and energy technology. India, in its eleventh five-year plan, had selected eleven fusion technologies as a focus and was investing 590.7 billion won.
On 30 May 2006 the Korean government announced a plan for two IT-convergence service platforms, twenty parts and materials, and fifteen source technologies, and said it would put 480.2 billion won, by 2015, into future technologies in which BT and NT would fuse around IT. The same plan named seven IT-NT core technologies and eight IT-BT core technologies, and pointed to cars, ships, construction, and fibre as high-value fields, and to defence, aviation, medicine, and education as future growth fields.
A prediction attached to that horizon was that, ten years on, an IT car that could sense and judge its surroundings, and a nano-bio robot for surgical treatment, would appear. Everyday cases on the page include u-health, in which exercise is taken in the form of a game, a USB pedometer that measures a day’s calorie use even at rest and in sleep, and smart fibre: cloth with IT worked in. A metal fibre developed in Korea, the paper says, is made by twisting several 10-micrometre copper wires, can bear being folded and unfolded 400,000 times, and can download a 700-megabyte film in eighty seconds.
A bio-shirt can send a pulse, a breathing rate, and an activity measure to a hospital in real time. References include Woo Je-taek (2016), Park Woo-jun (2016), and Jeong Eun-mi at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (2012).
— Contents and key concepts
Three letters, and a plan dated 30 May 2006
In the twenty-first century, the paper begins, many kinds of development have taken place, and with them many technologies have appeared. Three are named as representative and central: NT, or nanotechnology; IT, or information and communications technology; and BT, or biotechnology. These three, the writer says, may fairly be said to lead contemporary society, and they show a synergy when they are joined with other techniques. Fusion technologies born in that way affect many fields, make a life more convenient, and move a society on. They can, the writer thinks, solve problems that had not been solved, and raise the quality of a human life, and so have a very good effect on a society. When IT is joined with another field, the page calls it IT convergence.
Fusion, as defined later on the page, is the joining of two or more fields of science or scholarship in order to enlarge a synergy. The result is a fusion technology, which is expected, in the paper’s wording, to lead present and future industry. Among examples named are IT convergence, cell-fusion technology, and nuclear-fusion technology. In recent years, the writer says, the development of information and communications, of networks, and of smart devices had made IT convergence the fusion with the largest effect on a society.
Figures for national programmes are left as the paper reports them, in their own window, and are not treated as current official totals. Advanced countries, the paper says, had recognised the importance of IT convergence and were investing actively. The United States was putting 130 billion dollars a year into NBIC fusion research, centred on nanotechnology and joining NT, BT, IT, and cognitive science. Europe was investing 11.6 billion euros in interdisciplinary research. Japan had drawn up a strategy for the fusion of IT, BT, NT, and energy technology. India, in its eleventh five-year plan, had selected eleven fusion technologies as a focus and was investing 590.7 billion won. On 30 May 2006 the Korean government announced a plan for two IT-convergence service platforms, twenty parts and materials, and fifteen source technologies, and said it would put 480.2 billion won, by 2015, into future technologies in which BT and NT would fuse around IT. Seven IT-NT core technologies and eight IT-BT core technologies were named. The government pointed to cars, ships, construction, and fibre as high-value and new-market fields, and to defence, aviation, medicine, and education as fields for a future growth engine. A prediction attached to that horizon was that, ten years on, an IT car that could sense and judge its surroundings, and a nano-bio robot for surgical treatment, would appear.
A game on a bicycle, and a pedometer that also watches sleep
Cases that a local government, a regional body, or a regional firm might adopt, or that might improve a private life, are hard to list one by one, the paper says, because so many fields were already applying advanced IT. Among those it does name is u-health, which it says had recently been spreading quickly. A user pedals without stopping until a target is caught, and in that way takes exercise in the form of a game, looking after health by moving. A USB pedometer, worn on the body and linked to a PC, has a sensor that measures a day’s calorie use by itself — when walking, and also when resting and when sleeping.
A copper thread, and a shirt that can call a hospital
Smart fibre is fibre with IT worked in. Clothing made from it is called smart clothing. The feel of wearing it, the paper says, is the same as ordinary clothes, but advanced IT functions are added, and many uses are included. The core technology is a metal fibre called digital fibre. Optical fibre and polymer materials have a weakness in flexibility, and metal fibre had recently been in the spotlight. A metal fibre developed in Korea is made by twisting several 10-micrometre copper wires. It can bear being folded and unfolded 400,000 times, and can download a 700-megabyte film in eighty seconds, a speed of communication the paper calls high. Smart clothing was being intensively studied as a way of realising a wearable computer.
The Korean government, judging that smart fibre would be a promising future industry, had created a fibre division under an Industrial IT Convergence Forum, and had said it would foster it as a national growth engine. Firms were aiming at commercial use in a short time, and were developing smart fibre in four fields: healthcare, digital, the environment, and sports and leisure. One example is a bio-shirt that measures a user’s electrocardiogram, breathing rate, and activity, sends the information to a hospital in real time, and can allow immediate emergency treatment if something is wrong. It can be used, the paper says, in u-health and medicine, with children, in sport, and in work with older people. The state of an older person who is alone, or of an athlete in a match, can be grasped at once, and a warning sound can help to prevent an accident.
The writer’s close is that a new field, the fusion of technologies, has been opened as various techniques have come forward, and that, among them, IT convergence had the largest effect. Fusion, in this reading, has a large value as a future technology; new products will for the most part be carried by it; and if it continues to develop, it will, the writer thinks, lead most technique and development in a future that is not far off. Korea, then, should research and develop it further in order to be ready. The references named on the page include Woo Je-taek, on trends in IT convergence (2016); Park Woo-jun, on micro-organisms and future fusion technology (2016); and Jeong Eun-mi, at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, on a strategy for industrialising nano-fusion technology (2012).
Why a 2006 plan and a copper thread are kept together
A date on a government plan, and a thread that can still carry a film after many folds, belong to the window in which they were written. The same Korean paper, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- Student paper on the social effects of technology fusion, with a survey of IT-convergence programmes and a case of smart fibre (Korean source page).
- National programme figures as reported in the paper, including a Korean plan announced on 30 May 2006 for investment through 2015; a domestic metal fibre of 10-micrometre copper wire; a bio-shirt for u-health.
- Woo Je-taek, trends in IT-convergence technology (Chaeum gwa Nanum, 2016); Park Woo-jun, micro-organisms and future fusion technology (Purple, 2016); Jeong Eun-mi, a strategy for industrialising nano-fusion technology (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, 2012).
Last updated: 14 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
What figures does the paper report for national fusion programmes?
The figures are left as the paper reports them, in their own window, and are not treated as current official totals. The United States, it says, was putting 130 billion dollars a year into NBIC fusion research, centred on nanotechnology and joining NT, BT, IT, and cognitive science. Europe was investing 11.6 billion euros in interdisciplinary research. Japan had drawn up a strategy for the fusion of IT, BT, NT, and energy technology. India, in its eleventh five-year plan, had selected eleven fusion technologies as a focus and was investing 590.7 billion won. On 30 May 2006 the Korean government announced a plan for two IT-convergence service platforms, twenty parts and materials, and fifteen source technologies, and said it would put 480.2 billion won, by 2015, into future technologies in which BT and NT would fuse around IT. IT-NT core technologies named on the page include an image sensor, a mechanical sensor, an environmental sensor, a new silicon device, a nano-SoC, a power device, and an optical device. IT-BT core technologies include bio-information analysis, a biosensor, biometric imaging, a biochip, a sensor for harmful organic matter, a biosignal interface, and the protection of bio-data and of biometric information. Cars, ships, construction, and fibre were named as high-value and new-market fields; defence, aviation, medicine, and education as fields for a future growth engine. A prediction attached to that horizon was that, ten years on, an IT car that could sense and judge its surroundings, and a nano-bio robot for surgical treatment, would appear.
What is smart fibre, as the paper describes it?
Smart fibre is fibre with IT worked in. Clothing made from it is called smart clothing: the feel of wearing it is the same as ordinary clothes, but advanced IT functions are added. The core technology, the paper says, is a metal fibre called digital fibre. Optical fibre and polymer materials have a weakness in flexibility, and metal fibre had recently been in the spotlight. A metal fibre developed in Korea is made by twisting several 10-micrometre copper wires, can bear being folded and unfolded 400,000 times, and can download a 700-megabyte film in eighty seconds, a speed of communication the paper calls high. Smart clothing was being intensively studied as a way of realising a wearable computer. The Korean government, judging that smart fibre would be a promising future industry, had created a fibre division under an Industrial IT Convergence Forum, and had said it would foster it as a national growth engine. Firms were aiming at commercial use in a short time, and were developing smart fibre in four fields: healthcare, digital, the environment, and sports and leisure. One example is a bio-shirt that measures a user’s electrocardiogram, breathing rate, and activity, sends the information to a hospital in real time, and can allow immediate emergency treatment if something is wrong — a use, the paper says, in u-health and medicine, with children, in sport, and in work with older people. The state of an older person who is alone, or of an athlete in a match, can be grasped at once, and a warning sound can help to prevent an accident.
What other everyday cases does the paper give?
Among cases that a local government, a regional body, or a regional firm might adopt, or that might improve a private life, the paper names u-health, which it says had recently been spreading quickly: a user pedals without stopping until a target is caught, and in that way takes exercise in the form of a game. A USB pedometer, worn on the body and linked to a PC, has a sensor that measures a day’s calorie use by itself, including the calories used when walking, when resting, and when sleeping. The writer’s close is that fusion technology has a large value as a future technology, that new products will for the most part be carried by fusion, and that Korea should research and develop it further in order to be ready.
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