[2021 Mirae Company Forum] "Virtual Reality Experience Without Money or Time"

Seongho Lee, CEO of District Holdings
Emphasizes Effectiveness of Immersive Media and Content

Lee Seong-ho, CEO of District Holdings, is giving a lecture at the '2021 Asia Future Business Forum' hosted by Asia Economy on the 29th at the Western Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] "Immersive media technology will help replace real experiences with virtual ones without spending a lot of money and time."

Lee Seong-ho, CEO of District Holdings, a digital media specialist company, emphasized this on the 29th at the '2021 Asia Future Enterprise Forum' hosted by Asia Economy, stating that immersive media technology can reduce the social costs of experience.

As the era of the 'experience economy,' where the 'experience' symbolized by a specific brand creates economic value beyond the patterns of making, consuming, and servicing goods, has arrived, the scope of immersive media and content utilization is likely to expand significantly. For example, consumers visiting a famous franchise coffee shop do not return because of the coffee taste or products but because they are familiar with the atmosphere and the experience they see and feel at the store, which is the principle behind repeatedly using the same brand.

District gained attention by transferring real experiences into virtual ones through immersive content based on nature. A representative example is the media art 'Wave' showcased last June on the large LED screen at COEX Plaza in Samseong-dong, Seoul. It introduced scenes of giant waves crashing through the LED screen, receiving great interest from major overseas media such as CNN in the U.S. and BBC in the U.K. due to its vivid realism.

CEO Lee explained, "As display performance has advanced and technologies such as video production software that can realistically express the movement of waves have developed, it has become possible to create desired content anytime." In September last year, the 'Arte Museum,' a media art exhibition hall featuring nature themes such as flowers, fields, beaches, and waterfalls, opened in Aewol, Jeju. Visitors there can experience virtual walks through gardens in full bloom or feel as if they are at the northern European night sea illuminated by the aurora.

CEO Lee said, "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been unable to travel and are very exhausted, so there has been increased interest in virtual experiences that can quench the thirst for nature," adding, "If immersive media can reproduce the scene as if one is in a specific space, its utility value will be considerable."

Above all, the possibility has opened for immersive media technology to develop more precisely through convergence with Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, big data, and the Internet of Things. CEO Lee predicted, "Immersive media will evolve into a trend that perfectly replaces real experiences with virtual ones by linking human senses not only through sight, hearing, and smell but also through neural networks."

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