Shinhan Financial Group Successfully Concludes '2021 Shinhan Square Bridge Startup Conference'

Conducted in Virtual Space with Real-Time Extended Reality Technology Applied

Participants appearing at the 2021 Shinhan Square Bridge Startup Conference are giving presentations.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Shinhan Financial Group's startup nurturing platform, Shinhan Square Bridge Seoul, announced on the 5th that it successfully held the '2021 Shinhan Square Bridge Startup Conference.'

Since last year, the Shinhan Square Bridge Startup Conference has been an event where startups and domestic and international stakeholders gather to explore cooperation methods and discover new business opportunities.

This year, the conference was held in a virtual space realized through real-time extended reality (XR) under the theme "The Future That Became Today, Metaverse." Nine metaverse experts from Korea and abroad gathered in one place to provide business-optimized insights on the prospects, investments, and technological status of the metaverse.

Matthew Ball, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist (VC) who established and listed the world's first metaverse exchange-traded fund (ETF), the "Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF," attracted attention by advising, "Currently, up to 25% of the $85 trillion global economy is accounted for by the digital economy. The metaverse will contribute to the growth of the digital economy, so do not expect stagnation but run toward success."

Also, Jeffrey Yen, Asia-Pacific Tech Marketing Director of NVIDIA, which holds the largest share in the Meta ETF, conveyed the vision of a leading metaverse technology company, stating, "The metaverse is no longer science fiction but a realizable domain."

In the subsequent startup talk concert, Kim Jeongsam, Software Policy Officer at the Ministry of Science and ICT, revealed the government's support direction, saying, "The government will continue multifaceted support in platforms, economy, education, etc., to prevent monopoly by a few global big tech companies."

In addition, major companies and technology startups leading the metaverse, such as IEX, SKT, Unity Korea, and Shinhan Bank, participated and shared abundant insights.