Gaon Media Develops Ultra-Realistic Devices... "Seizing the 30 Trillion Won Virtual Convergence Economy Market"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Gaon Media, a total AI solution specialist company, announced on the 6th that it has signed a business agreement for the 2021 XR Flagship Project promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT. XR (Extended Reality) refers to ultra-realistic technologies encompassing VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), and MR (Mixed Reality).

This agreement is for the second year of the project, focusing on the additional development of 5G communication-based XR devices this year. 5G technology, which transmits large volumes of data with ultra-low latency, is essential to run XR content. The consortium consists of Locus, Dongguk University, Gumi Electronics & Information Technology Institute (GERI), and Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

Gaon Media, selected last year for the education and training system construction sector of the project, will carry out the XR Flagship Project worth 10 billion KRW by 2022. Through the first year of the project in 2020, it completed the development of XR devices used in police complex terrorism response capability enhancement education and training simulations.

In December last year, the government announced the "Virtual Convergence Economy Development Strategy," a joint plan by related ministries, stating its intention to intensively foster XR as a key pillar of the Digital New Deal. Since the economic effect is expected to reach 30 trillion KRW by 2025, the market is expected to continue expanding.

A company official said, "We will expand XR business into manufacturing, construction, medical, and defense sectors by utilizing Gaon Media's AI and 5G technology and know-how," adding, "Especially since XR technology is essential to realize the recently spotlighted Metaverse, we will successfully complete the advancement of 5G-based solutions this year."

Metaverse is a compound word of Meta, meaning abstraction, and Universe, meaning the real world, referring to a virtual world implemented online. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, the Metaverse market size is expected to reach 315 trillion KRW by 2025.

Meanwhile, the "XR Flagship Project" is one of the Ministry of Science and ICT's "Immersive Content New Market Creation Projects," a large-scale government-led pioneering project to foster the immersive content industry, a core field of 5G and non-face-to-face services.