South Korea invests $187M to create a Metaverse project for virtual industrial expansion

The Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning in South Korea has invested 223.7 billion KRW (around $187 million) for building a broad Metaverse ecosystem, with the aim to support digital content and corporate growth in the nation.

The Ministry stated in a public announcement on February 27 that funds will be used to fulfill four primary objectives in creating the Expanded Virtual World, which looks to be an all-encompassing Metaverse environment.

The government agency plans to use the initiative to boost the virtual industrial expansion of cities, education, and media.

Aim to boost virtual industrial expansion via Metaverse

Government will assist Content makers in attracting the best talent to help expand the platform on several aspects. According to the Ministry, community-oriented creative events, a Metaverse developer contest, and a hackathon will be held.

Park Yungyu, the Ministry’s Head of Communication and Policy Department, noted that the intention to establish a Metaverse platform is part of South Korea’s broader ‘Digital New Deal.’ According to Park, the Digital New Deal is a set of policies aimed at fostering the growth of digital technologies. 

“It is important to create a world-class Metaverse ecosystem as the starting point to intensively foster a new hyper-connected industry.”

According to Hashed CEO Simon Kim, the new platform focuses on increasing commercial expansion by giving financial support to players. He said that he does not think the government should subsidize the metaverse because “the private sector is actively investing in the market.”

Hashed, which has invested in projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox, is a South Korean crypto ecosystem venture capital and incubator.

Along with major companies, several governments are also jumping into Metaverse. Previously, as TheCoinRise reported, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish President, has reportedly directed officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to organize a meeting in the metaverse to explore new advancements in specialized fields of technology.