Government to help create content industry ‘success stories’

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that it will aim to create a series of “success stories” from the Creative Economic Leader Venture Center this year by funding start-ups.

In a luncheon meeting with local reporters on Wednesday, Culture Ministry officials said that the ministry plans to spend 10 billion won to support start-ups for the production of content and 3 billion won for research and development.

The ministry’s goal is to develop some 25 killer contents this year.

“This is part of efforts to advance Korea’s creative industry, foster professionals, boost the country’s competitiveness and improve people’s cultural lives,” said Song Soo-keun, deputy culture minister for planning and coordination.

In its Blue House briefing last month on its plans for the year, the Culture Ministry said that it would place priority on “enriching people’s culture by developing a creative economy.”

The government announced last month that it will create a fund worth 215 billion won ($176 million) to support start-ups for the development of next-generation contents using emerging technologies such as virtual reality and hologram. Part of this fund will be used to help artists and spur exports of their works overseas.

The Culture Ministry pledged to promote welfare of artists, saying that it would seek to amend the relevant laws and root out irregularities that hurt the livelihoods of independent artists and producers.

“We still have not yet seen the content industry developed fully as a business,” said Yoon Tae-yong, deputy culture minister in charge of the cultural content industry.

“The CEL Venture seeks to create an ecosystem that can spur new growth for the country.”

The government launched the tech content venture center last month in downtown Seoul, housing some 90 start-ups specializing in creating stories and content using the latest and emerging technologies.

The Culture Ministry will also seek to improve the country’s travel services and hold various promotional events such as grand sales to attract more than 8 million Chinese tourists this year, up from last year’s 6 million. It aims to attract a total of 16 million foreign tourists this year.

It will increase the number of public cultural facilities such as museums and libraries participating in the Culture Day, held on the last Wednesday of each month, while inviting more private companies and colleges to participate in cultural activities. Last year, more than 80 companies and universities took part in the Culture Day.

In sports, the Culture Ministry will spend some 40 billion won to support small and medium-size enterprises to develop into big sports brands.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)