South Korea Again Disburses IDR 783 Billion To Increase Domestic Metaverse Industry

South Korea has injected hundreds of billions of funds to support the increase in the metaverse industry. (Photo; Doc. TechStory)

JAKARTA - South Korea has again demonstrated its commitment to supporting the growth of the local metaverse industry. Although the interest of some private companies in the metaverse has begun to subside, South Korea has even doubled its stakes to build the metaverse economy. The country recently announced two initiatives aimed at supporting metaverse projects and companies to build products over the virtual world.

The first initiative announced on March 8th was the metaverse growth fund. The fund will allow companies looking to develop virtual projects to obtain direct funding from South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT. A 30 million US dollars (IDR 461 billion) fund has been allocated to this project.

The second initiative, announced one day later, relates to the development of 13 specific initiatives that include the metaverse in various areas of convergence, including technology, regional projects, the public sector, and industry. US$21 million (Rp322 billion) funds have been allocated to this second project. These two disbursements of funds totaled US$51 million (around Rp783 billion).

The Korean institution recognizes that the current weakness of the world economy makes it difficult for such companies to raise funds personally. Therefore, Oh Yong-soo, a software policy officer at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated that government support is needed more than ever.

The Korean government has been actively investing in the growth of its local metaverse industry since last year, injecting millions of funds directly into companies in the field. In May, Lim Hye-sook, director of South Korea's Ministry of Sciences and ICT, announced an investment of US$177 million (Rp2.7 trillion) in the metaverse company, became one of the first countries to directly invest funds into the sector at the time.

In addition, in June, the ministry also announced a program to recruit companies to be part of a metaverse content creation project. The program aims to start a local movement to create content in the metaverse as part of the country's strategy to become a pioneer in the industry.

Investment in this country is considered very important to advance the local metaverse industry. South Korea hopes to take the lead in this field and continue to invest in increasing the capabilities and competitiveness of the metaverse industry in the future.