Government to Foster SW, AI, OTT, and Metaverse as Promising Export Items

Announcement of Strategies for Overseas Expansion and Export Promotion in the Digital Sector

The government is fostering software (SW), artificial intelligence (AI) services, online video platforms (OTT), metaverse, blockchain, and other sectors as promising export items.

On the 5th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced a joint strategy with related ministries titled "Digital Sector Overseas Expansion and Export Activation Strategy" at the Service Industry Development Task Force. The strategy was prepared to overcome recent export sluggishness in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector. Although ICT exports achieved a record high of $248.8 billion, they shifted to a decline compared to the same month last year starting in July due to complex factors such as the global economic slowdown. The Ministry of Science and ICT judged that actively utilizing rapidly changing opportunities is necessary to overcome the export crisis.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will promote the "SW Frontier Project," which provides linked support from research and development to commercialization and overseas expansion to nurture global SW companies. To promote the overseas expansion of promising Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, support will also be provided for commercialization through cooperation with global cloud companies and registration on global marketplaces. A new project will be established next year to support AI services aimed at global markets from the planning stage through service development and overseas commercialization. To promote the overseas expansion of OTT companies, the support amount for overseas expansion-type content production will be increased next year. Additionally, innovative companies with high potential to enter global metaverse platforms will be identified and supported for commercialization.

The export competitiveness of ICT equipment and components such as mobile communication network equipment and AI semiconductors will also be enhanced. First, international joint research on next-generation systems such as Open-RAN will be supported. Furthermore, through the K-Cloud project, domestic AI semiconductors will be applied to data centers, and cloud-based services will be demonstrated.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will pioneer emerging markets to expand the digital export territory. By establishing overseas bases and dispatching export exploration teams, the achievements of high-level economic diplomacy with the Middle East will be linked to digital export expansion. High-level digital sector meetings will be pursued with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and others to build a foundation for investment and joint business cooperation between digital companies. In addition, a joint public-private digital export exploration team will be dispatched to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in October to support Korean companies in securing various digital business orders in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia's NEOM City project. An IT support center will also be established in the UAE next year as a base for Middle East expansion.

Focus will also be placed on the Southeast Asian market. Utilizing the "Korea-ASEAN Cooperation Fund," projects for development, convergence, and diffusion in the digital service sector (data, AI, etc.) will be promoted. Digital export exploration teams will be dispatched to Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia to support exports by domestic digital companies. Using cooperation projects with development banks, a foundation for entering the Latin American market will also be established. The "Korea-Latin America ICT Ministers Meeting" will be restored, and private bases utilizing office infrastructure provided by local large companies will be newly established next year, focusing on Argentina and Colombia.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will strengthen full-cycle support for overseas expansion and export of digital innovation companies. An independent specialized institution supporting the overseas expansion of digital innovation companies will be launched this month to enhance comprehensive support. In addition, growth programs from global accelerators in Silicon Valley and elsewhere will be provided to domestic digital innovation companies to nurture them into global unicorn companies.