Busan Metropolitan City is striving to develop 2009 IT EXPO Busan into the biggest IT event in Southeast Asia, a city spokesman said.
The 2009 IT EXPO Busan, an international IT exhibition designed to herald U-city Busan and further develop the city's IT industry, is to be held at BEXCO in Haeundae for four days from Sept. 2.
Under the goal of making the IT EXPO Busan a business-focused fair, Busan city is going all-out to provide global exhibitions, expand the number of foreign buyers and participating companies, and hold a variety of business and marketing events, according to the city spokesman.
Not only do IT companies have a keen interest in the IT EXPO Busan, but also manufacturing and services firms are moving to enhance their global competitiveness. This opportunity will be held along with Robot World Busan 2009.
More than 170 domestic and foreign companies will display their goods and technologies at 500 booths at the international event, which will be held under the slogan of Ubiquitous is Full.
To differentiate buyers and general visitors, Busan city will operate two halls - a B2B Hall and a B2C Hall. The city is concentrating its efforts on supporting business to business interactions by holding individual consultation meetings for overseas buyers, an investment explanatory meeting, and an event to introduce new products.
Such side events as consultation meetings for domestic and overseas buyers, a promotion event for regional enterprises, an explanatory meeting for technology transfer of ETRI, and an event to introduce new products, will also place an emphasis on business, the spokesman said.
By organizing the 2009 IT EXPO Busan and Robot World Busan 2009 simultaneously, the city plans to maximize synergy effects and provide visitors with a wider space to experience IT goods and services, as well as robot-related technologies.
Related to this, the city established a theme hall where visitors can directly experience and feel ubiquitous and new technologies.
Slogan of Ubiquitous is Full
The slogan Ubiquitous is Full has the meaning that the 2009 IT EXPO Busan will develop ubiquitous technology and help people attain affluent culture and approach the idea of a U-city, the spokesman said.
In keeping with the slogan, a number of ubiquitous-related companies will participate in the international event, displaying their new ubiquitous products and services.
Busan City also established a large-scale theme experience hall consisting of ubiquitous environment, technology and state-of-the-art IT for the spread of the U-city idea.
Foreign buyers, citizens and other visitors will be able to directly experience ubiquitous technology and enhance their understanding of the new technology.
IT leading new growth engine of Busan
Busan City has upgraded its master plan for development of the IT industry in the region by reflecting service IT convergence and green IT convergence in the plan, the spokesman said.
Under the vision of building a leading IT-based convergence city, it has set the five missions - sharpening competitiveness of regional IT companies, developing the harbor and logistics industry, creating a high value-added parts industry, strengthening the relevant manufacturing sector, and fostering the regional IT industry.
The city will actively support enterprises and research centers to help them develop application technologies and solutions, as well as other services in the shipbuilding & ocean IT, U-automobile, and next-generation logistics IT sectors.
The shipbuilding & ocean IT covers next-generation navigation systems, digital communication systems, ship control systems, ocean information systems and software for the shipbuilding industry.
U-automobiles include such ideas as human machine interfaces (HMI), intelligence vehicle information & convenience systems, and vehicle networks. Meanwhile, a next-generation logistics IT sector consists of logistics devices, advanced operation systems, harbor automatization systems and integrated information systems.
In 2008, the city spent W6.4 billion (US$5.2 million) for the application of RFID/USN and the development of automatization technology to build a U-harbor.
During the 2008-2012 period, it will also pour W2.1 billion (US$1.7 million) into a project to develop e-navigation core technology. Korea Maritime University, Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency and many regional IT companies will participate in the project to develop and commercialize e-navigation technology, including communication servers for ships.
It will also invest W116.7 trillion (US$95.3 billion) during the period from 2008 to 2012 to set up a regional IT-specialized research center. Dongeui University and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency will participate in the project to develop and commercialize sensor and network parts for ships and automobiles.
It will also explore new projects in the convergence sector, including setup of a regional software convergence center, an assistance project for the development of regional software-specialized commercial technology, a project to survive the four main rivers utilizing a digital solution, and a project to actively foster software manpower.
Along with this, it will seek ways to promote bilateral cooperation in the IT field between the southeast region of Korea and Kyushu of Japan, the spokesman said.
For instance, it will push for international joint study projects in the IT field between the southeast region of Korea and Kyushu of Japan, while expanding exchange and cooperation projects between the enterprises of the two regions.
In particular, Busan city will seek ways to promote cooperation for joint study with the Fukuoka Industry, Science & Technology Promotion Foundation, Fukuoka LSI General Development Center, Kita Industrial Academic Propulsion Organization, and Kitakyushu International IT Business Propulsion Council.
Ripple effects of the 2009 IT EXPO Busan
The 2009 IT EXPO Busan is the biggest regional IT-specialized event designed to upgrade the status of international U-city Busan and activate IT enterprises in the region.
Since 2005, it has greatly contributed to heralding the present address and future of IT industry in Busan and promoting marketing activities of regional IT companies, while expanding exchanges and cooperation between companies, the spokesman said.
The city plans to develop the IT EXPO Busan into the biggest IT event in Asia in terms of quantity, and foster it as the business event introducing state-of-the-art technologies developed by domestic and foreign IT firms in terms of quality.
To this end, it plans to place its emphasis on strengthening support for IT business while keeping the global IT event in scale, he said.
In line with this, it will improve the quality of the exhibition by attracting more large domestic companies and introducing the nation's top information technology to foreign buyers, domestic citizens and visitors.
At the same time, it will invite domestic and foreign IT buyers to the event and tell them about advanced information and communication products developed by Busan-based companies. During the event period, it also projects to hold business consultation meetings between domestic IT companies and foreign buyers in a bid to help them strike more contracts for exports, the spokesman said.
