INCHEON, KOREA - Incheon City recently launched the “Incheon N Media”, which is run based on citizens’ participation. On June 19th, the city government held the opening ceremony where they signed an MOU with Kyung-in broadcasting for securing media channels, as well as an awards ceremony for UCC & CUG contest winners.
“Quality content marks the potential for future competitiveness. I hope that Incheon N Media produce strong content in order to provide a competitive edge of Incheon city and South Korea in the future,” said Song Young-gil, Mayor of the Incheon City government.
Incheon N Media, which is operated by both Incheon City and the Incheon IT Promotion Agency (IITPA), is the first of its kind. The media services allows citizens to upload their own video and see updated news anytime and anywhere using diverse devices such as PC, Smart TV, mobiles and Tele-screens (digital image devices which provides information as well as broadcasting). This convergence of broadcasting and communications was selected as a pilot project by the Korea Communications Commission last year.
“We expect that Incheon N Media will revitalize Incheon City’s broadcasting environment and regional marketing as citizens become “prosumers” by taking the lead in producing and consuming media,” said Cho Sung Kap, President of Incheon IT Promotion Agency.
Since the service was initiated last year, IITPA has set up systems and Tele-screens to transmit live, VOD, and broadcasting programming, and developed HTML5-based integrated media service for multi-platform devices. There are already more than 3,000 contents available.
This system is also designed to enhance the marketing service of traditional markets, by allowing small business owners to upload their shop information and product prices on smart phones. When customers visit the market, they are able to view a variety of information in the form of push services (within Wifi zone) using customer-recognized programs.
Users can also gain access to information regarding various art performance and cultural events on their smart phones or tele-screens located in Cultural Art Centers. From the end of this year, IITPA will provide CUG (community user group) to allow citizens to produce media contents as communities or dealer associations. On top of this, people can send VOD as well as mobile live broadcasting to their friends on SNS through the SNS broadcasting infrastructure.
Incheon IT Promotion Agency - JST Project and Robot Land
The supervising organization of the Incheon N Media, IITPA is the Incheon City-funded institution. The organization has been in charge of the city’s various ICT areas since 2002. IITPA has made efforts to strengthen competitiveness and invigorate start-ups in ICT areas including software, culture technology, as well as robotics technology. This organization has also been leading the convergence of IT, CT, and RT in a bid to upgrade the city’s information industries.
IITPA has constantly supported Incheon City’s job creation through the JST (Jemulpo Smart Town) project. “Supporting start-ups is essential to help break the cycle of jobless growth and tackle youth unemployment issues. Incheon City is no exception to these issues. IITPA will take the lead in the revitalization of start-ups in ICT, digital contents, and robotics areas,” Cho said.
IITPA has held competitions using the JST project in order to promote and provide recognition for business owners who possess novel technologies and items. This competition is unique in that judges, usually angel investors, are betting funds on the finalists. Their business funds will then be supported through angel investment. In order to boost angel investments, IITPA holds IR on a regular basis for the JST start-ups, and expands matching investment with angel investors.
Another key business of IITPA’s is the Robot Land project. This project is designed to construct the world’s first robotics theme park by integrating robotics with culture. Run jointly by the local government and private companies, this project will be comprised of a theme park (exhibitions and amusement facilities), public facilities (R&D centers, robotics graduate school, and R&D centers), and other facilities (communities, street malls, and accommodation).
Robot Land will be set up gradually by 2016 and is expected to bring about diverse economic benefits. The graduate school and R&D centers will contribute to improving robotics academic performance. Exhibitions and robotics facilities will also help to generate initial demand in the robotics market. On top of this, theCity will serve as a test bed for new robotics technology development.
“IITPA has made efforts on behalf of Incheon City to grow as foothold of ICT Korea over the past few years. Despite the concerns about the decline in population in Korea, Incheon city’s population has been increasing by 4,000 citizens every month. IITPA will continue to heighten its efforts to realize ‘Incheon as a mecca for ICT Korea’ in the future,” Cho said.
