Investment in VR
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on October 7 that that in the next five years, they will invest 405 billion won (US$364 million) in the virtual reality (VR) industry picked as one of nine growth engine projects this year.
They will concentrate on securing fundamental VR technology and building an industrial ecosystem in concert with relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources. Their policy goal is to narrow Korea’s technology gap with VR leaders such as the US to six months from current 1.7 years after five years through such efforts.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will support the early development of core VR technologies such as 3D depth sensors, facial expression and motion recognition and eye tracking and the commercialization of ultra-light and high-definition VR devices more comfortable to wear.
Moreover, they will seek solutions such as VR safety technology with reference to the safety of users such as dizziness and eye strain which happen after VR device use and are barriers to the popularization of VR.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning decided to nurture the Sangam-dong area crowded with leading media companies and cultural and ICT firms in Seoul as the Mecca of collaboration and convergence among VR-related firms.
To this end, they will develop the Korea VR Festival into a world-class VR event that compounds ICT such as VR 5G and cultural contents and features the latest VR services and products.
On top of that, in order to let people enjoy realistic VR contents in their everyday life, the ministry will vary experience contents by building private sector-led VR experience facilities at hot spots and Korean cultural wave bases all over the country.
In 2018, they will run VR simulators such as ski jump and bobsleighs with photos of stadiums as backgrounds by building a VR experience zone in the ICT Experience Center of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in 2018.