Seoul, Operating the "Seoul Tech Pavilion" for the 1st Time at Main Exhibition Hall of 'CES 2023'in US

• Operating the 'Seoul: City of Green Technology and Smart Transportation' Vision Themed Seoul Pavilion at 'CES', next year from January 5^thto 8^th.
• Biggest scale yet with Seoul Tech Pavilion, KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion joined by over 60 major Korean companies and startups
• First technology exhibition in the main exhibition hall operated by a country (city) and not an enterprise … Raising the stature of Seoul as a tech hub
• KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion composed of 3 partnered institutions and 4 universities… 50 startups selected and given general support

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Seoul Metropolitan Government will operate a 'Seoul Tech Pavilion' at 'CES (Consumer Electronic Show) 2023', the world's biggest IT expo which will be held for four days next year from January 5^th (Thurs) to 8^th(Sun).

They will also operate the 'KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion', which will feature over 50 startups, simultaneously for the first time.

CES is the world's biggest tech expo held every January at Las Vegas, US. It is a cutting-edge technology show where major global companies, like Samsung and Google, announce their visions for the company's future and startups from various countries showcase the innovative technology they developed to the global market.

Seoul is a city that was ranked 10^th in global startup ecosystems by the Global Ecosystem Report 2022 published by Startup Genome, a global startup ecosystem evaluation institution. It is evaluated as a city possessing outstanding startup infrastructure.

In this upcoming CES, the 'Seoul Tech Pavilion' will be implementing innovative technology related to 'mobility' and 'ESG' at the main exhibition hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC).

This is the first time a pavilion operated by a country (city) will be displayed at the main exhibition hall, which is usually an exhibition space for companies leading the global tech industry, such as Samsung or Microsoft.

As such, the number of attending companies and the space for the exhibition will be expanded. The 'Seoul Tech Pavilion' in the main exhibition hall (LVCC) is 165㎡and will be attended by 12 open innovation startups and major Korean companies. The 'KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion' will be composed of 50 outstanding Korean startups over 473㎡at Eureka Park, the exhibition hall for countries and startups.

As the Seoul Tech Pavilion is a platform to introduce the cutting-edge technology of innovative major companies and startups of Seoul to the global market and propose a vision of Seoul evolving with technology, it will be operated with a Theme Zone "which implements a vision towards the future and experiential elements, and a Tech Zone, which displays the innovative technologies of major companies and startups partnered with.

In particular, a massive 3D screen (7M * 3M) will be installed in the Theme Zone, which will display immersive4D and 3D videos that show the vision for the future of Seoul. UAM, drones, self-driving cars, and eco-friendly technology are proposed using anamorphic technology, along with the future industries of Seoul evolving with technology will be showcased with impact. In addition, through a partnership with Caliverse, an immersive metaverse-based K-Content experience booth will be operated to provide visitors with various sights.

Through CES 2023, the city of Seoul aims to propose the future image of Seoul as a tech hub under the vision of 'Seoul: City of Green Technology and Smart Transportation' and simultaneously support the global expansion of outstanding startups.

The main themes of the Seoul Pavilion in CES 2023, which are 'Mobility' and 'ESG', are key fields for achieving Seoul's policy vision and have been proposed for 'Seoul Vision 2030' as the strategic goals of 'Seoul: City of Green Technology and Smart Transportation'. The city of Seoul is taking active measures, such as establishing a new urban air mobility (UAM) system and preparing measures to implement carbon neutrality (Net Zero).

Accordingly, Seoul Business Agency(SBA), the government-contributed institution of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, SBA plans to showcase the Seoul Tech Pavilion's innovative technology in the fields of 'Mobility and ESG' through open innovation in connection with major companies. An open innovation program (the 6^th Seoul Innovation Challenge) will be held with four major Korean companies to jointly discover six startups possessing innovative technology in related fields and support expansion into the global market through technical collaboration, commercialization support, as well as joint CES exhibitions.

The 'Seoul Innovation Challenge' is a project to support the research and development (R&D) of technology in startups possessing innovative technology in new industries. SBA entered partnerships with Lotte Chemical and S-Oil, which are focusing on the eco-friendly energy business, and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and HANCOM InSPACE, which are leaders in the urban air mobility (UAM) business and selected 6 outstanding startups that fit the technical tasks presented by each company.

Earlier, SBA established a system of cooperation with the Seoul Digital Foundation and the Korea Institute of Startup &Entrepreneurship Development under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, for the composition and operation of the KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion. Through the Seoul City-Ministry of SMEs and Startups Joint Pavilion, which was formed for the first time at CES through the conclusion of a trilateral agreement, the selection of outstanding startups will be expanded to 50 companies, and systematically integrated services will be provided.

The exhibition areas for the outstanding startups selected by the KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion are mobility, bio/healthcare, ESG, manufacturing and data. The Joint Pavilion is expected to draw more attention in Eureka Park with the scale of integration and expansion compared to the previous year.

The selected companies will receive one-stop integrated services, from pre-consulting for CES, on-site exhibition and interpretation, IR presentations, and follow-up management. In particular, consulting training was conducted in order to receive the Innovation Award given to companies possessing innovative technology and aesthetic design at the CES. With this, 17 companies succeeded in winning the CES 2023 Innovation Award.

In addition, SBA signed separate partnerships with the business groups of 4 universities (Kyunghee, Kookmin, Sogang, Chung-ang) and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development to give effective support for the exhibition. 50 university student supporters were also selected for close local support for the 50 exhibiting companies in the KOSTARTUP Joint Pavilion.

The selected university students are set to be matched 1:1 with startups in their desired fields and taught about their corresponding companies in advance to improve their understanding of these companies. In addition to preparation for the exhibition and on-site interpretation, these measures are also expected to support the companies' business communication.

Hyunwoo Kim, the CEO of the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), said that "While we plan to propose a future vision of Seoul evolving with technology with the world's biggest IT expo, CES, as the stage, we also plan to actively support the expansion of innovative startups, which lead Seoul's startup ecosystem, into global markets."

SOURCE Seoul Business Agency