"Building XR Content Production Infrastructure" Busan's 'Han-ASEAN ICT Convergence Village'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City announced on the 16th the opening of the 'K-ASEAN ICT Convergence Village,' which will serve as a hub for Korea-ASEAN ICT industry cooperation and a foothold for overseas market entry in the metaverse era.

The ICT Convergence Village is one of the follow-up projects of the ‘K-ASEAN Special Summit’ held in Busan in 2019 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Korea-ASEAN dialogue relations. It was established to lay the foundation for mutual co-growth between Korea and ASEAN in the field of extended reality (XR) content and services and to expand exchanges.

Over the next four years, with the aim of Korea-ASEAN XR cooperation and mutual prosperity, it will be responsible for ▲supporting XR content production infrastructure, ▲discovering and supporting Korea-ASEAN joint XR projects, and ▲training professionals through the operation of the K-ASEAN XR Academy.

At the opening ceremony held with a minimum number of attendees including Minister Lim Hyesook of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City, Shin Sang-hae, Chairperson of Busan City Council, deputy ambassadors of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia to Korea, the president of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and the director of the ASEAN Culture Institute, a report on the construction progress of the ICT Convergence Village and a tour of the main facilities took place.

At the ‘K-ASEAN Studio,’ built with proprietary technology developed by domestic startup M&NH, domestic and international companies can collaborate to produce vivid 360° three-dimensional XR content. Using the ‘5G-based indoor-outdoor continuous user location tracking system’ developed by RealMaker, various location-based AR services can also be developed within the 5G dedicated testbed covering 40,000㎡ around APEC Naru Park.

This year, through the ‘K-ASEAN XR Joint Project,’ developments such as the metaverse of a shopping mall in Bangkok and XR content development of the world cultural heritage site ‘Hue Imperial City’ in Vietnam are being promoted, raising expectations as excellent cooperation cases between ASEAN and Korea based on domestic XR technology.

Minister Lim Hyesook of the Ministry of Science and ICT said, “The ICT Convergence Village will serve as a hub for Korea-ASEAN collaboration and human exchange in the virtual convergence industry sector, becoming an opportunity to lead mutual prosperity in the post ‘Korea-ASEAN 30 years’ era.” She added, “I hope that Korea’s digital new deal experiences and achievements will be shared with ASEAN centered on the ICT Convergence Village, and that close cooperation on XR, metaverse-related content, and technology will continue.”

Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City, said, “It is very meaningful that differentiated content on various themes can be created at the K-ASEAN Studio, independently developed by a domestic startup for the first time in Korea, helping entry into the ASEAN market.” He added, “We will continue to strive to enhance the XR capabilities of young people through the ICT Convergence Village and provide more opportunities for domestic companies to enter the ASEAN market.”