In this IT Empire, some next generation products are born into privilege, while the others are survivors. Although the country has enough resources and infrastructure to support the growth of both newborn and survivors at this moment, the aging of IT shakes to promise undying support and care. This is where the IT started a journey to search for strong partners like culture to secure the best care. The trend of digital convergence is putting culture under spotlight and the government is planning half a billion dollar project.
Culture Technology is defined to combine culture and cutting-edge technology. “Based on content industry, the convergence of science, technology and arts can be applied to create or produce contents like movies, games, and animations,” Yu Byong-han, deputy minister of content at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism introduced. According to him, culture technology, especially computer graphics contribute to green technology by allowing the military trainings or complicated movie scenes to be done virtually. Experts predict that the future economy will heavily rely on CT industry since the Era of Cultural Trades is yet to come.
Creative Economy Has Begun
Since 2002, the average growth rate of content industry per year has been 8.6 percent. As of 2007, Korean content occupied 2.5 percent of the global content market, and its online games ranked first in the world. The online export rate is expected to go up even more this year since Korea gained global conscience as the country that creates clean content. On April 30, Korea was eliminated from global copyright watch list. Considering the fact, 11 OECD countries are included amongst 45 countries that are on the watch list, such recognition can help Korean content industry to be competitive.
Currently, the created revenue per year in contents industry of Germany is marked W44.7 billion, W106.8 billion in America, and W72.9 billion in England. "If we take a look at Britain, for example, the British government started to support creative industry as the national project and invested 60.8 billion pounds. Its creative industry was divided into 13 areas including publication and broadcasting. Such investment opened 2,000,000 job positions and created new exporting items. By contrast, Korean content industry today stands as the third red figured country in the world.
Increased Budget and Tightened System
In order to buck the deficit, the Culture Ministry finalized a bill “Culture Technology R&D Basic Plan” last year to cover six major areas: computer game, new media, virtual reality, film, exhibition and play, convergence, and cultural welfare. Although the investment plan has increased from W40.4 billion in 2008 to W67.5 billion this year, the extra 67 percent budget has no space for new trials only. The government has set 3P System, (Plan Office, Program Director, Project Manager) to organize the entire R&D process. This system is expected to maximize the efficiency of the plan.
The Key Is in the Gaming Industry
The MCST announced to put W70 billion by 2012 to promote “Global Game Hub Project.” According to the project, 300 studios will be opened to assist the production of new games. In spite of the economic recession, Korean gaming industry exported US$1 billion last year. A long term government plan and support aim to place Korean games in one of the top three in the world. By 2012, government will support Korean gaming content to expand its global market. The project also covers to set up the 200 billion one gaming fund by 2012.
The G-star 2009 is around the corner. The MCST believes it is a great opportunity to encourage the domestic gaming market while gaining global conscious.
According to the MCST’s statistic information, W1 billion will create 14.68 jobs in content industries. This is 29.3 percent higher than the average of the entire industries. “In content industry, a single man can success a business by using simple ingredients like personal computer and his own ideas. This is the power of creativity, and the long history of our country and culture proves how creative we are. We must join the Content Rush and find the way out to the blue ocean,” said Yu.
In Further Depth
Q: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has created a new blueprint for the development of the content industry, which the government and the private sectors alike regard as critical for the sustainable growth of Internet-related industries. Could you elaborate on the focus of the blueprint for us
A. The initiative was designed to boost the content industry, which is gaining in importance as the Internet has been sweeping into all sectors of industries. We have a number of short, mid and long-term aims. We are moving according to a step-by-step strategy in order to help the content industry take root in a sound way. The ultimate goal is to make the content industry a new engine for growth in Korea, which is in desperate need of a proverbial shot in the arm.
Q: How do you make things happen in such turbulent times
A: The content industry is very complicated. This means we need straightforward A to Z plans to handle the blueprint. I do not mean that the government should subsidize the private sector. The role of the government is only to make policies that encourage industries by drafting laws and setting the rules for players to compete with. We have focused on educating minds to work in the field, encouraging R&D from private sectors, and building up infrastructure.
Q: What kinds of laws have you made so far to support the industry
A: We put into force a vivifying law for the content industry. It focuses on ways to boost the industry. It is based on “the less regulation, the better the market,” and aids convergence among different cultures. For examples, the cartoon and film industries can collaborate to create new films. We also set up a committee to enhance the content market, which will be composed of experts from private and public sectors. In order to assist content makers, it will break ground for a huge studio. The government will help those who want to make inroads into the world market, especially those who help spread the mass culture of Korea. One of the most important roles the government should take is to prevent pirating. We will punish any infringement of copyrights. According to statistics, pirate markets reach up to W2 trillion a year. This means, if we had protected property rights, we would have created new markets of the same amount in favor of the companies.
