BEIJING, CHINA - INT’L SOFT CHINA 2013, China’s largest exhibition in the software and ICT industry kicked off on May 30th in Beijing, China. In order to expand software business dealings with China, 20 representative companies from Korea participated in this year’s exhibition. These representatives comprised the Korean software pavilion which is backed by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future planning, and organized by KOTRA and Korea Software Enterprise Association.
At the opening ceremony, Choi Mun-kee, Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning emphasized that international exhibitions like INT’L SOFT CHINA, where a lot of new information and ideas can be exchanged, have helped the country to develop many strong ICT companies.
“Today, as software companies are spearheading the global economy, and the axis of the IT industry is shifting from hardware to software, software has become the core competitiveness factor to determine products’ performance and value,” he said.
The minister continued that since it is possible to become a software industry entrepreneur equipped solely with creativity and ideas, the industry can play a large role in stimulating job creation. China has experienced rapid growth in the ICT industry on the back of relevant policies and in particular more than 20% annual growths in the software industry.
Choi said that President Park Geun-hye included software as one of the core policies required to generate the creative economy. A successful creative economy means that creative ideas can become intellectual property on the back of integration with science technology. In addition, convergence with exhibiting industries can lead to start-ups and the creation of new markets, ultimately leading to enhanced employment opportunities.
In this regard, Korea plans to foster the software sector as a core industry in order to realize the creative economy. The Minister feels that Korea and China see eye to eye in this regard, as the latter set the exhibition theme as contribution to the economy and social development through creativity.
