The sector that suffered the most from the unprecedented COVID-19 is the face-to-face service industry.
The sector that suffered the most from the unprecedented COVID-19 is the face-to-face service industry. Therefore, the government is dedicated to making the domestic service industry non-face-to-face and digital. In March of this year, at the Seoul Government Complex, the 31st Emergency Economic Central Countermeasure Headquarters meeting was held, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki and Minister of Economy and Finance, who stated that they would actively foster the non-face-to-face service industry in response to COVID-19. Previously, last July, a 'Korean New Deal Comprehensive Plan' including the fostering of the non-face-to-face industry was disclosed at the whole government level, and in November of the same year, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced ICT utilization plans for non-face-to-face economy use. In particular, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) are promoting the revitalization of the digital economy by focusing on demonstrating and spreading leading non-face-to-face services in daily life areas.
There are several reasons why NIPA is moving to foster lifestyle-integrated non-face-to-face leading services. First, it is necessary to expand existing markets and create new ones. The necessity of industrial restructuring due to the paradigm shift towards non-face-to-face across the economy and society, such as the extension of the pandemic and digital transformation, also played a part. Another reason was that Korea's ICT technology level for building a non-face-to-face economy was lower than major competing countries. According to the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Promotion (IITP), in 2019, Korea's ICT technology level related to non-face-to-face, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud, was lower than the US, Europe, and China. Furthermore, low utilization of non-face-to-face services by small business owners and SMEs due to lack of understanding of core technologies and costs also played a role. In fact, according to the 2019 Statistics Yearbook of Information, in 2018, the cloud usage rate for 4.01 million establishments nationwide was only 6.4%, the big data usage rate was 1.6%, and the artificial intelligence usage rate was 0.6%.
An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT said, "For the revitalization of the national digital economy, support for non-face-to-face innovative companies at various stages of growth, service advancement and market expansion, and improvement of technology acceptance are necessary," adding that "The Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA are actively stepping up customized corporate support to lead the non-face-to-face market."
![[ZDNet Korea] National Digital Economy Boosted by Activation of Non-face-to-Face Leading Services — image 1](https://emotionwave.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/1.jpg)
The Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA will invest 8 billion KRW this year to demonstrate and spread lifestyle-integrated non-face-to-face leading services. They plan to support about 8 billion KRW annually for the next five years. In particular, since this year is the first year of the project, they have selected 12 projects focusing on areas where non-face-to-face transition is urgent (education, distribution, health, daily life, etc.). Of these 12, 7 are designated projects and 5 are free projects. The Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA plan to help these demonstration projects quickly settle into the market through customized integrated and continuous support until commercialization.
The 7 designated projects include non-face-to-face evaluation, safe touch for infectious disease response, smart mental care, infectious disease response robots, enhancement of lifestyle platform services, leisure home training platforms, and last-mile robot delivery. The 5 free projects include developing immersive content experience platforms, developing VR-based rehabilitation equipment, developing VR treatment devices for traffic accident patients, developing AI-based autonomous driving robots, and developing non-face-to-face AI immersive multi-platform.
■ 7 Designated Non-Face-to-Face Service Projects... Contributing to Infectious Disease Prevention
Among the 7 designated projects, the non-face-to-face evaluation field is a project to develop a non-face-to-face evaluation solution that prevents cheating on the evaluator online without on-site examination supervision. This will be carried out by two companies, Visensebaum and Eplmind. They plan to secure next-generation non-face-to-face evaluation service technology through complex authentication using facial recognition, electrocardiogram (ECG), artificial intelligence (AI), etc.
The infectious disease response safe touch project is a project that develops and services non-contact touch functions by applying ICT technology to prevent infections that may occur during kiosk touches. Three companies—Maketon, Initech, and Nesket—are collaborating to perform this project. The focus is on eliminating the optimal condition for virus transmission (contact) and preemptively blocking infectious disease transmission.
The smart mental care project is a project to discover and spread psychological care services through digital therapeutics that apply new technologies such as big data and AI. Encom and S&Y Innotech are in charge of the project. According to the National Health Insurance Service, the socioeconomic cost of mental and behavioral disorders is estimated at 14 trillion KRW annually, and it is expected that successfully completing this project will contribute to reducing this cost.
There is also an infectious disease response robot project. Seaa Infotech and K-Robo Company are performing this. It is a project to develop AI-based autonomous driving robots and implement a service for delivering essential supplies in isolation facilities. The enhancement of lifestyle platform services project is a project that develops personalized non-face-to-face services by fusing existing online platforms (simple information provision, search, etc.) with VR, AR, etc. Three companies—Rayzone, List, and HCI Plus—have joined forces. They plan to reduce the construction cost of buildings by developing an XR-based digital model house.
The leisure home training platform project is also being promoted. This aims to provide online platform services for small and medium-sized travel agencies and exhibition halls that are experiencing difficulties due to decreased demand following COVID-19, with SAMG Animation and Anipen taking charge of the project. The last-mile robot delivery project is a project undertaken by two companies, Coston and Adentrobot. It implements a delivery robot service for logistics delivery and infectious disease prevention targeting densely populated areas and complex spaces.
![[ZDNet Korea] National Digital Economy Boosted by Activation of Non-face-to-Face Leading Services — image 2](https://emotionwave.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/2-1.png)
■ Five free tasks... Attention drawn to the first application of fintech in autonomous driving robots, etc.
Five free tasks are being promoted, including the development of an immersive content experience platform, development of VR-based rehabilitation equipment, development of VR therapy devices for traffic accident patients, development of AI-based autonomous driving robots, and development of a non-face-to-face AI immersive multi-platform.
Among these, the immersive content experience platform development task aims to develop a drive-through style theater system that utilizes immersive video and projection technology, which is being handled by The Force Wave. It is expected to contribute to lowering theme park costs and reducing the cost and size of population-dense simulators. For the VR-based rehabilitation equipment development task, portable VR-based rehabilitation equipment that can be used in hospitals and rehabilitation centers for people with difficulty or inconvenience in movement, such as cerebral palsy, is being developed. P&Media is promoting this in partnership with Inje University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation. This can solve the problem of rehabilitation medicine where accessibility is poor due to space issues.
There is also a development task for VR therapy devices for traffic accident patients. Mega Works and Studio Coin are collaborating to perform the task. It is drawing expectations because it can solve 'Trauma Focusing,' a major treatment method for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from traffic accidents, with a VR device.
There is also an AI-based autonomous driving robot development task. By equipping it with a financial solution that manages multi-national currencies, such as banknote recognition and real-name verification, it showcases the combination of fintech services on artificial intelligence autonomous driving robots for the first time in Korea. Woody is responsible for carrying out the task.
![[ZDNet Korea] National Digital Economy Boosted by Activation of Non-face-to-Face Leading Services — image 3](https://emotionwave.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/3.png)
Lee Kyung-hwan, Team Leader of NIPA Global Startup Growth Team, emphasized, "It is expected that providing resources necessary for developing non-face-to-face services to small and medium-sized enterprises with technology will increase future added value and create jobs," adding, "Since non-face-to-face services require advanced technologies that Korea is leading, the commercialization of these promoted non-face-to-face leading services will help enhance national benefit as well as industrial competitiveness." GDN Korea will introduce 12 non-face-to-face leading service projects promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA over the next twelve sessions.
Original article: https://zdnet.co.kr/view/?no=20211124083350
There are several reasons why NIPA is moving to foster lifestyle-integrated non-face-to-face leading services. First, it is necessary to expand existing markets and create new ones. The necessity of industrial restructuring due to the paradigm shift towards non-face-to-face across the economy and society, such as the extension of the pandemic and digital transformation, also played a part. Another reason was that Korea's ICT technology level for building a non-face-to-face economy was lower than major competing countries. According to the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Promotion (IITP), in 2019, Korea's ICT technology level related to non-face-to-face, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud, was lower than the US, Europe, and China. Furthermore, low utilization of non-face-to-face services by small business owners and SMEs due to lack of understanding of core technologies and costs also played a role. In fact, according to the 2019 Statistics Yearbook of Information, in 2018, the cloud usage rate for 4.01 million establishments nationwide was only 6.4%, the big data usage rate was 1.6%, and the artificial intelligence usage rate was 0.6%.
An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT said, "For the revitalization of the national digital economy, support for non-face-to-face innovative companies at various stages of growth, service advancement and market expansion, and improvement of technology acceptance are necessary," adding that "The Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA are actively stepping up customized corporate support to lead the non-face-to-face market."
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki and Minister of Economy and Finance are announcing the 'Korean New Deal Comprehensive Plan,' which includes fostering the non-face-to-face industry.
■ Demonstration and spread of lifestyle-integrated non-face-to-face leading servicesThe Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA will invest 8 billion KRW this year to demonstrate and spread lifestyle-integrated non-face-to-face leading services. They plan to support about 8 billion KRW annually for the next five years. In particular, since this year is the first year of the project, they have selected 12 projects focusing on areas where non-face-to-face transition is urgent (education, distribution, health, daily life, etc.). Of these 12, 7 are designated projects and 5 are free projects. The Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA plan to help these demonstration projects quickly settle into the market through customized integrated and continuous support until commercialization.
The 7 designated projects include non-face-to-face evaluation, safe touch for infectious disease response, smart mental care, infectious disease response robots, enhancement of lifestyle platform services, leisure home training platforms, and last-mile robot delivery. The 5 free projects include developing immersive content experience platforms, developing VR-based rehabilitation equipment, developing VR treatment devices for traffic accident patients, developing AI-based autonomous driving robots, and developing non-face-to-face AI immersive multi-platform.
■ 7 Designated Non-Face-to-Face Service Projects... Contributing to Infectious Disease Prevention
Among the 7 designated projects, the non-face-to-face evaluation field is a project to develop a non-face-to-face evaluation solution that prevents cheating on the evaluator online without on-site examination supervision. This will be carried out by two companies, Visensebaum and Eplmind. They plan to secure next-generation non-face-to-face evaluation service technology through complex authentication using facial recognition, electrocardiogram (ECG), artificial intelligence (AI), etc.
The infectious disease response safe touch project is a project that develops and services non-contact touch functions by applying ICT technology to prevent infections that may occur during kiosk touches. Three companies—Maketon, Initech, and Nesket—are collaborating to perform this project. The focus is on eliminating the optimal condition for virus transmission (contact) and preemptively blocking infectious disease transmission.
The smart mental care project is a project to discover and spread psychological care services through digital therapeutics that apply new technologies such as big data and AI. Encom and S&Y Innotech are in charge of the project. According to the National Health Insurance Service, the socioeconomic cost of mental and behavioral disorders is estimated at 14 trillion KRW annually, and it is expected that successfully completing this project will contribute to reducing this cost.
There is also an infectious disease response robot project. Seaa Infotech and K-Robo Company are performing this. It is a project to develop AI-based autonomous driving robots and implement a service for delivering essential supplies in isolation facilities. The enhancement of lifestyle platform services project is a project that develops personalized non-face-to-face services by fusing existing online platforms (simple information provision, search, etc.) with VR, AR, etc. Three companies—Rayzone, List, and HCI Plus—have joined forces. They plan to reduce the construction cost of buildings by developing an XR-based digital model house.
The leisure home training platform project is also being promoted. This aims to provide online platform services for small and medium-sized travel agencies and exhibition halls that are experiencing difficulties due to decreased demand following COVID-19, with SAMG Animation and Anipen taking charge of the project. The last-mile robot delivery project is a project undertaken by two companies, Coston and Adentrobot. It implements a delivery robot service for logistics delivery and infectious disease prevention targeting densely populated areas and complex spaces.
■ Five free tasks... Attention drawn to the first application of fintech in autonomous driving robots, etc.
Five free tasks are being promoted, including the development of an immersive content experience platform, development of VR-based rehabilitation equipment, development of VR therapy devices for traffic accident patients, development of AI-based autonomous driving robots, and development of a non-face-to-face AI immersive multi-platform.
Among these, the immersive content experience platform development task aims to develop a drive-through style theater system that utilizes immersive video and projection technology, which is being handled by The Force Wave. It is expected to contribute to lowering theme park costs and reducing the cost and size of population-dense simulators. For the VR-based rehabilitation equipment development task, portable VR-based rehabilitation equipment that can be used in hospitals and rehabilitation centers for people with difficulty or inconvenience in movement, such as cerebral palsy, is being developed. P&Media is promoting this in partnership with Inje University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation. This can solve the problem of rehabilitation medicine where accessibility is poor due to space issues.
There is also a development task for VR therapy devices for traffic accident patients. Mega Works and Studio Coin are collaborating to perform the task. It is drawing expectations because it can solve 'Trauma Focusing,' a major treatment method for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from traffic accidents, with a VR device.
There is also an AI-based autonomous driving robot development task. By equipping it with a financial solution that manages multi-national currencies, such as banknote recognition and real-name verification, it showcases the combination of fintech services on artificial intelligence autonomous driving robots for the first time in Korea. Woody is responsible for carrying out the task.
The non-face-to-face AI immersive multi-platform development task is a multi-platform that allows people to easily and conveniently experience virtual music ensemble education and evaluation in daily life. Emotionwave was entrusted with this task. Emotionwave expected that if successful, it would become the world's first O2O response global linked art education platform.
Lee Kyung-hwan, Team Leader of NIPA Global Startup Growth Team, emphasized, "It is expected that providing resources necessary for developing non-face-to-face services to small and medium-sized enterprises with technology will increase future added value and create jobs," adding, "Since non-face-to-face services require advanced technologies that Korea is leading, the commercialization of these promoted non-face-to-face leading services will help enhance national benefit as well as industrial competitiveness." GDN Korea will introduce 12 non-face-to-face leading service projects promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and NIPA over the next twelve sessions.
Original article: https://zdnet.co.kr/view/?no=20211124083350