Name

KAIT to Operate Korean Pavilion Featuring 16 Firms Electronic Goods The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2005 will be held at Las Vegas Convention Center in the U.S. for a five-day period from Jan. 5 this year, Jung Jang-ho, chairman of Korea Association of Information & Telecommunication (KAIT), said. In an interview with Korea IT Times, Chairman Jung said, "The CES 2005 organized by the U.S. Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is one of the world's best IT industry exhibitions with participation of about 2,400 companies from more than 100 countries." "Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, and Carly Fiorina, chairman of HP, are scheduled to deliver keynote speeches at the show, which will be held under 24 subjects, including home networking, digital home, game & entertainment, wireless, satellite broadcasting, mobile entertainment, and emerging technologies," he said. Noting that large Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Daewoo Electronics, iRiver, and Erae Electronics, will participate in the international show, Jung said, "Such world-famous foreign companies as Microsoft, Motorola, Sony, Intel, Sanyo, Panasonic, and Toshiba will also attend the consumer electronics show." In the meantime, Korea Association of Information & Telecommunication (KAIT) has decided to extend financial and other support to the nation's promising small and medium-sized IT companies, which possess advanced technology but face difficulties in advancing into the overseas market due to shortage of funds to assist their participation in the CES 2005. The followings are excerpts of an interview with Jung Jang-ho, chairman of KAIT. Q: Would you introduce the Korean Pavilion operated by KAIT at CES and characteristics of the products on display at the pavilion A: KAIT created the Korean Pavilion where a total of 16 Korean companies will participate at Las Vegas Hilton Hotel in the U.S. Among the products to be displayed at the Korean Pavilion are Play@TV for PC by ICUBE; LCD TV and video telephones by Dongyoung Media; POP TV by Purun Information & Technology; digital broadcasting receivers of AMT; home edutainment hub by DMUZE; PDA/Smart phones and satellite DMB by Cyber Bank; MP3 players by ENOX, and DVR board and mobile DVR by Comart System. Along with this, Korean companies will boast of their advanced technology by introducing robots, including cleaning robots for the home by Hanool Robotics; entertainment robots by Yujin Robotics; and cleaning robots by Micro Robot; to foreign visitors at the international show. Q: Would you introduce KAIT's supporting measures for member companies and the development of the IT industry A: KAIT was established in 1987 to protect the rights and interests of IT companies under the law concerning acceleration of the use of information and communication networks, and information protection. KAIT deals with three kinds of businesses; assistance business for KAIT member companies, operation of consultation meetings by business line, and IT-related business. For instance, KAIT participates in a variety of exhibitions, including the "ITU Telecom," to actively support marketing activities of its member companies. For the development of the IT industry, it organizes a "Conference on prospects for the IT industry" at the end of every year, offering a place for information exchange to member companies. Besides, it has held the "Expo Comm Wireless Korea Exhibition/ Seminar" and the "International ASP/IDC Fair Conference" as a means of activating the IT market. It also operates the "LBS industry consultation" and the "Next-generation PC industry consultation, as part of its efforts for standardization of the IT industry and market activation. Q: KAIT has engaged in various projects for the development of next-generation industry and bolstering of international competitiveness of promising smaller IT companies. Would you explain its core projects A: For the development of the IT industry, KAIT operates a variety of consultations. Among them are the "LBS industry consultation," the "Next-generation PC industry consultation," the "e-Biz consultation," and the "Korea Linux Consultation." The LBS industry consultation has been pushing for joint studies on LBS-related laws and systems, research and development activities for standardized size, marketing activities to advance into the overseas market, and hosting of exhibitions and seminars to accelerate the use of LBS service. Meanwhile, the next-generation PC industry consultation organized the "IT SoC 2004" and next-generation PC industry exhibition and the "Wearable PC fashion show", suggesting visions for the future PC industry. From 2000, KAIT began to launch projects for promising small and medium-sized IT companies to help them explore new foreign markets and diversify their overseas markets. Considering the possibility of advancing into foreign markets and growth potential, the association helps promising IT companies with less than 8 billion won in capital or less than 300 employees participate in overseas exhibitions through financial and other supports. The project has greatly contributed to active advancement into foreign markets by promising IT companies which faced serious difficulties in entering foreign markets due to lack of business funds and relevant information. Through the "Overseas IT cooperation team dispatch project," KAIT is striving to carry out differentiated overseas marketing activities and diversify Korean IT companies export markets. Q: KAIT has been placing emphasis on activation of the new growth businesses and global marketing. Would you introduce the results of the association's business results and its future prospects A: In 2000, the association already launched the "Internet information home appliance industry consultation" and made a survey of the nation's wireless Internet market and technology trend. At the same time, it has been actively pushing for the ASP industry's advancement into the overseas market as part of its efforts to activate new growth-oriented businesses. For the development of the robot industry, one of the nation's top nine new growth driving forces, the association established the "Intelligence-type service robot industry association", and the "Korea robot engineering academic association," in 2003. In particular, KAIT plans to place the first priority of its businesses on global marketing this year and achieve a per capital gross domestic product (GDP) of $20,000. As part of its efforts to explore more global markets, the association concluded memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with 26 institutions in 17 countries, including Japan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Israel, Brazil, Chile, Poland, and Hungary.