The First Startup to Solve Major Corporation Challenges Emerges

KT Commissioned 'Immersive Virtual Reality Service' Problem Solver Final Competition Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 16th that it held the final selection round of the first phase of the D-Star Solver Platform KT's 'Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Service' contest. The 'D-Star Solver Platform' is a win-win cooperation policy that connects large corporations and startups to solve each other's problems and complement each other's different capabilities.

The first phase set six major fields?artificial intelligence content, immersive media, future mobility, food-related technology (FoodTech), and eco-friendly materials?technology areas that have gained more attention after COVID-19, and started the contest with nine tasks per large corporation. From this day until the 26th, the finals for selecting the final startups for each of the eight large corporations' tasks will be held sequentially.

KT participated in the 'Immersive Media field' and proposed as a task the expansion of the utilization range of non-face-to-face content, which has become more utilized due to COVID-19, and methods to enhance the immersiveness of virtual reality (VR) services. Fifty-two startups challenged this task. In the finals, six startups that passed the two-stage preliminary evaluation advanced and demonstrated VR services applied in various fields such as 'K-pop online concerts,' 'underwater virtual experiences,' 'virtual experience-based psychotherapy,' 'non-face-to-face fan meetings,' 'interactive educational content,' and '3D geographic information-based virtual travel.'

The startups finally selected will be awarded at the performance sharing event held at Sejong Hall, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, on the 1st of next month, and will receive up to 2.5 billion KRW in government support including commercialization (100 million KRW), technology development (up to 400 million KRW), and technology special guarantee (up to 2 billion KRW). They will also gain opportunities to jointly promote projects with large corporations and expand globally by utilizing overseas networks.

KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo said, "The media industry is rapidly changing paradigms due to the spread of non-face-to-face services caused by COVID-19 and the development of 5G technology, so fresh ideas and technological capabilities of startups are urgently needed," adding, "We have high expectations as we can discover and collaborate with capable startups through the D-Star Solver Platform."

Minister Park Young-sun, who visited the site that day, said, "The immersive media field, which can overcome the constraints of time and space due to COVID-19 and realize non-face-to-face experiences, has gained new opportunities," and added, "Through the D-Star Solver Platform, we hope that KT, which possesses large-capacity and ultra-high-speed communication infrastructure, and startups in the media field can secure new growth engines together and grow together."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.