"Discovering Key XR Players" Ministry of Science and ICT Hosts '2021 Korea Metaverse Awards'

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 22nd that it will hold the ‘2021 Korea Metaverse Awards (XR category)’ to discover key domestic players in XR as metaverse expands with virtual convergence technology (XR) applied across various real and virtual industries.

Considering the development and contribution to the XR-based metaverse industry ecosystem, the awards aim to recognize promising domestic companies and entrepreneurs, as well as excellent content and solutions, to commend their achievements and promote the expansion of the XR industry through awards and publicity. This year’s Korea Metaverse Awards (XR category) will be held twice, in the first half (June) and the second half (November). The first half award ceremony will accept applications from the 23rd of this month until the 14th of next month.

The award categories include: ▲ Companies with high contribution to the XR-based metaverse industry and improvement of citizens’ quality of life ▲ Entrepreneurs who contributed to fostering XR and metaverse companies by presenting challenging and innovative XR business models ▲ Content and solutions that have created excellent business results based on creative ideas.

At both the first and second half Metaverse Awards, a total of three Minister of Science and ICT Awards with prize money of 6 million KRW (2 million KRW each), the President’s Award of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and the Chairman’s Award of the Korea Virtual Augmented Reality Industry Association will be presented across the three categories. Awardees will receive support for promoting their company achievements and the excellence of their content and solutions, participation in KVRF (Korea VR Festival), the largest domestic virtual augmented reality exhibition, and linkage to overseas expansion support projects for digital content.

Kim Jeong-sam, Director of Software Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “To foster a healthy and dynamic metaverse ecosystem and enhance competitiveness, we intend to select and reward companies, entrepreneurs, content, and solutions that have contributed to the development and dissemination of achievements in the XR industry, encouraging their efforts so far. We will actively support this event to become a professional awards ceremony that can contribute to the domestic and international XR industry and represent the related industry.”

Details regarding the application can be found on the websites of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and the Korea Virtual Augmented Reality Industry Association. Applications must be submitted by the 14th of next month.

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