Much Attention is being Paid to “Korea Contents Lab”

With digital content increasing importance in the framework of the creative economy, interest is picking up in the Contents Korea Lab, which is expected to be a catalyst for creative activities and start-ups in the digital content industry. 

The Contents Korea Lab can be defined as a set of incubating projects for assisting in the creation of content, establishment of firms, and commercialization of technologies by creators with brilliant ideas. It is characterized by a close link with regional infrastructure for financing and training. 

The Lab is a part of the content industry promotion plan that was announced in the economic ministerial meeting in July this year. During the course, the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning and the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will work together with each other to establish a total of 23 culture-convergence labs and digital pioneer labs by 2017. 

15 digital pioneer labs are scheduled to be set up nationwide by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning. The ministry is going to provide support for start-ups in promising digital content industry segments such as mobile and TV applications, UHD content, and two-way content technologies. 

Two of the labs will be established ahead of schedule through pilot projects before the end of this year, so as to expedite the five-year undertaking. One of the pilot projects is in progress in the fast-growing next-generation broadcasting content sector, including UHD content, and the other is in the convergence smart content industry in which broadcasting content is combined with the medical and education fields. 

Each of the companies participating in the undertaking can receive subsidies of 120 million to 290 million won (US$113,058 to US$273,180) for one year in the respective segments for production, consulting, and marketing purposes. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning is going to attract big businesses so that the content produced by the project can be sold and distributed on a wide scale.