'Metaverse Alliance' Mutual Cooperation in Full Swing... Pitching Day Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The three major mobile carriers, Hyundai Motor Company, Naver Labs, Kakao Entertainment, and other domestic companies participating in the 'Metaverse Alliance' held a meeting to explore mutual cooperation plans to pioneer new markets. Launched in May, the Metaverse Alliance is a public-private cooperation system aimed at developing the metaverse industry ecosystem based on extended reality (XR), including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that the 'Metaverse Alliance Pitching Day' event, where alliance member companies present their business ideas, was held online in a non-face-to-face format on the 26th and 27th. The term metaverse, first appearing in Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel, refers to a three-dimensional virtual world where the boundaries between reality and virtuality disappear.

This event was held to help alliance member companies share their business ideas so that companies can autonomously form project groups to discover and plan collaborative tasks. About 150 companies and institutions, including metaverse-related supply and demand companies and telecommunications companies, participated, and among them, about 50 companies presented business ideas to seek cooperation with other companies.

Specifically, based on the pre-surveyed business interest areas of each company, presentations on the 26th covered manufacturing, public, and service (B2B) sectors, while on the 27th, presentations covered life, communication, and service (B2C) sectors.

In the manufacturing, public, and service (B2B) sectors, about 30 company presentations were held, including topics such as 'XR remote collaboration and authoring tools and viewers,' 'Metaverse-based emergency resuscitation services and device development,' and 'Metaverse exhibitions and conventions.' In the life, communication, and service (B2C) sectors, about 20 company presentations were made, including 'financial metaverse platforms,' 'urban digital twin-based metaverse,' and 'metaverse shopping and virtual work platforms.' Additionally, companies engaged in lively discussions on strengthening private collaboration based on advice from external experts regarding project group formation and task planning directions.

Before the event began, the secretariat organizations of the alliance, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency and the Korea Radio Promotion Association, provided guidance on project group formation and operation methods and activity objectives. Each project group plans tasks where various companies collaborate with a focus on building an open platform ecosystem aiming for service commercialization, and they can receive support such as external expert utilization fees from the secretariat organizations. Going forward, alliance member companies will autonomously form project groups, set activity plans, share their technologies and experiences, and plan collaborative tasks.

Kim Jeongsam, Director of Software Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The metaverse is a platform ecosystem where multiple companies and entities participate to create new businesses,” adding, “The alliance will serve as a focal point for cooperation among various companies in software, content, devices, and more centered on the platform, and the government will actively support it to lead to tangible results.”

The Metaverse Alliance is a public-private cooperation system led by the private sector and supported by the government to revitalize the metaverse industry ecosystem, with a total of 202 companies and institutions participating as of the 22nd. The alliance plans to continue expanding its participating companies.

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