Jointly by Artificial Intelligence Grand ICT Research Center and Smart Tourism MICE Research Institute
On the 3rd, a seminar titled "The Future of Smart Tourism - From Virtual and Augmented Reality to the Metaverse" was held at Dong-Eui University.
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The Dong-Eui University Artificial Intelligence Grand ICT Research Center and the Smart Tourism MICE Research Institute held a seminar on the theme of ‘The Future of Smart Tourism - From Virtual and Augmented Reality to the Metaverse’ at the Dong-Eui University Industry-Academic Cooperation Building from 3 PM on the 3rd.
About 30 attendees participated in the seminar, including Busan City Council members Lee Jeong-hwa and Je Jae-wook, Jung Na-young, head of the Busan City Artificial Intelligence Software Division, officials from the Busan Tourism Organization, and the Busan Research Institute.
They invited Professor Jung Hyung-soo, a world-renowned expert in the field of augmented reality and Chair Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK (Director of the Creative AR & VR Hub), who gave a special lecture on the recently emerging digital space called the ‘Metaverse.’
The Metaverse refers to a transcendent (meta) world (verse) that combines reality and virtuality, emerging as a virtual convergence space where leisure activities and economic activities are conducted based on 5G and virtual technologies (AR, VR).
Professor Jung is a global scholar ranked second worldwide in citation index for augmented reality papers over the past five years and ranked first in Trending Authors, indicating citation growth rate.
He has carried out numerous projects in smart cities, smart healthcare, smart tourism, and metaverse fields using augmented reality.
Professor Jung stated, “For the metaverse to succeed, it is important first to form communities using the metaverse, and many users should experience and share the metaverse through SNS to activate it.”
He added that meaningful content should be developed by utilizing Korea’s cultural contents based on solid storytelling, such as K-Pop, eSports, dramas, webtoons, and movies, and that these should be developed as content fused with the real world.
He also said, “The metaverse should not be used simply as an entertainment element like games, but a metaverse platform should be built where economic activities using virtual currency occur within the metaverse, linked with real economic activities, enabling interaction between the real and virtual worlds, thereby developing into a sustainable business ecosystem.”
Jung Seok-chan, director of the Artificial Intelligence Grand ICT Research Center (professor of e-business major), said, “Support for metaverse technology development and construction is expanding at the national level, and the Dong-Eui University Artificial Intelligence Grand ICT Research Center plans to pursue this as a new research project.”
Director Jung added, “Busan City is also planning to build Metaverse 2030 in preparation for EXPO 2030, and we will focus on making the metaverse an efficient promotional tool for smart tourism.”
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