‘META-Busan’ Launches... Busan City Initiates Metaverse Platform Development for Marine Tourism, Convention, and Medical Sectors

Ministry of Science and ICT Public Project '2022 Metaverse Platform Development Support Project' Selected

Total Budget of 12.6 Billion KRW Including 9.6 Billion KRW National Funding, Platform Development to be Completed by 2023

Plan for the Establishment of Marine Tourism Services in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Megacity.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan City has been selected for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s public project, the ‘2022 Metaverse Platform Development Support Project,’ securing 9.6 billion KRW in national funding.

The ‘2022 Metaverse Platform Development Support Project,’ led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and supported by the Korea Radio Promotion Association and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, is a project aimed at building a metaverse industrial ecosystem that brings convenience and innovation to citizens’ lives, economy, and industry through interactions between people and objects in a space where virtual and reality are fused.

This is a government-led regional demonstration project where local governments, regional affiliated organizations, companies, and hospitals collaboratively develop metaverse-based services as part of the government’s metaverse new industry leading strategy.

The city formed consortia for each of the three projects with Ulsan City, Gyeongnam Province, BEXCO, and Busan National University Hospital, applied for the public project in March, and after presentation evaluations, was selected and completed the project implementation agreement by the end of July.

The selected project tasks include ▲ Development of regionally specialized metaverse services ▲ Demonstration of a metaverse-based immersive experience convention and expo platform ▲ Medical metaverse services for remote outpatient care, with a total project cost of 12.6 billion KRW, including 9.6 billion KRW in national funds and 700 million KRW from the city.

The project period is until 2023 for all tasks, with the possibility of a one-year extension after evaluation.

First, the ‘Development of Regionally Specialized Metaverse Services’ task will be promoted by a consortium formed by Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, aiming to build a regionally specialized marine tourism metaverse to revitalize the local economy.

Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam will each create digital twins of their local landmarks and build metaverses to develop core content tailored to regional characteristics.

Digital twin technology replicates real-world objects exactly in the virtual world, and core content includes surfing beaches, game and lesson services, virtual experiences, communities, and online shopping.

The city will build Songjeong Beach as a metaverse, developing experiences such as surfing lessons themed around a surfing village, community services, and surfing equipment manufacturing and sales services.

The Busan Cinema Center and the Busan Museum of Art will also be built as metaverses, providing specialized content such as shopping and tourism services.

The second task, ‘Demonstration of a Metaverse-Based Immersive Experience Convention and Expo Platform,’ will be promoted by a consortium including BEXCO and Eco MICE.

BEXCO will be built as a metaverse space, developing a metaverse-based international exhibition attraction and operation MICE platform featuring AI humans focused on real images, avatar creation, and multilingual translation support.

Through this, international events held in Busan such as Expo 2030 Busan, the 2023 World Disabled Persons’ Games, and G-STAR 2023 will be demonstrated.

Finally, the ‘Medical Metaverse Service for Remote Outpatient Care’ task involves Busan National University Hospital and Surgical Mind, developing a medical metaverse platform for remote collaboration among medical staff, digital therapeutics prescriptions, and various medical education services for remote outpatients.

Conceptual Diagram of Medical Metaverse Platform Service.

Participating demonstration hospitals include Busan National University Hospital, Yonsei University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, and Ewha Womans University Medical Center Seoul Hospital.

Lee Joon-seung, Director of the Digital Economy Innovation Office of the city, said, “Through this project, we will develop metaverse-based services specialized in marine tourism, MICE, and medical fields in Busan, striving to make Busan a leading metaverse city that moves first into the future.”

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