Software Expo 'SoftWave 2022' to be Held on the 7th of Next Month

Last year's Softwave exhibition hall view
[Photo by Softwave Organizing Committee]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] The 7th Korea Software Expo, ‘SoftWave 2022,’ will be held for three days starting from the 7th of next month at COEX in Seoul.

More than 300 domestic and international software (SW) and IT companies will participate in this event, which is jointly sponsored by six related government ministries and local governments, including the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, as well as SW-related organizations.

This year, various advanced technologies and services will be showcased in fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud, Internet of Things, collaboration tools, digital documents, IT services, security, content·games·apps, blockchain, defense·education·finance·manufacturing SW, and smart cities. Major SW companies participating include LG CNS, Hancom Group, Kukon, Bizplay, Tmax, Madras Check, ITCEN, NHN Dooray, FourSeas, Unidocs, Metabuild, PnP Secure, NextK, Siemens, and Thales.

Institutions responsible for SW policy, research and development (R&D), and industrial promotion will also set up booths to demonstrate their own developed technologies and public-private cooperation achievements, seeking commercialization support. Participants include the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, and SW Convergence Cluster. Additionally, the Indian National Small Industries Corporation will select 20 companies to establish an India Pavilion and explore collaboration with Korean companies.

Alongside the exhibition, the ‘SoftWave Summit 2022 Conference’ will be held to forecast the latest technologies and market trends and share business strategies. Experts from major companies such as Siemens, Amazon Web Services, Thales, Kukon, Megazone Cloud, Bizplay, and WiseStone will participate to present the future vision brought by digital transformation. The Software Policy Research Institute will announce the top 10 SW forecasts for 2023, and the law firm Logos will review legal issues related to SW business.

The ‘Digital Document Conference,’ organized by the Korea Electronic Document Industry Association, will also be held to expand the scope of applicable industries and business opportunities by converging in the digital era and transforming the meaning and scope of the former ‘electronic document’ into the concept of ‘digital document.’

Furthermore, the ‘SW Technologist Awards Ceremony,’ hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Software Industry Association to inspire pride and a spirit of challenge in the SW industry by awarding technologists who contributed to technology development and quality improvement in the SW field, will take place on December 7. A total of six recipients will be awarded the Minister of Science and ICT Award and the Korea Software Industry Association President’s Award.

A support program for expanding global market access for exhibiting companies will also be prepared. More than 20 buyers from major SW export target countries such as China, Japan, and Southeast Asia will be directly invited to hold export consultation meetings within the exhibition hall, and an export consultation platform with a database of 1.2 million overseas buyers will be established to support online trade transactions. Additionally, a breakfast meeting will be held for executives of the 300 participating companies to foster a business ecosystem among exhibitors.

A representative of the Korea Software Industry Association, which organizes a joint pavilion at SoftWave, stated, “This event will be a space where SW technologies and products and services from various heterogeneous industries are broadly converged into business models,” adding, “We expect this event to be a place where various business platforms and new business models based on innovative software will be presented.”