Start-ups, SMEs display disruptive tools at IT show

BUSAN ― At the World IT Show held in BEXCO, on the sidelines of the ongoing International Telecommunication Union conference, it is not hard to spot the big, shiny exhibition booths of tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

Their presence is just as large as their range of products displayed here ranging from large-screen curved televisions and wearables to smartphones and other digital appliances that can work well even based on next-generation 5G wireless technology.

Clustered side by side in small spaces are booths of start-ups and small and medium enterprises, which may go unnoticed by people dazzled by Samsung and LG’s army of gleaming tech gadgets and accessories.

However, this IT event is really about showing the potential of start-up technology whose simple-to-use yet sophisticated algorithms can disrupt the market and change the way people work with mobile computing.

NeoLab Convergence, founded by CEO Steve S. Lee, who founded online game company Neowiz, has developed an electronic pen embedded with Bluetooth wireless technology.

The so-called smart pen, converging offline and online note-taking techniques, allows users to transfer their notes to their smartphones or save them into Adobe portable document files as they write on special paper in real-time.

“It offers mobility in both offline and online note-taking and reading,” said NeoLab CEO Lee.

For instance, students can read their notes saved on their smartphones when heading home after jotting down notes during class.

In partnership with office suites platforms such as Evernote and XMS Penvision, NeoLab seeks to change the way people write and manage their notes and documents.

MJV, a start-up that is preparing to launch its online video editing service platform, aims to make editing widely available and useful not only for professionals but also amateurs.

The company’s Video Factory only requires users to upload their still pictures, then chose a template to automatically edit content such as an album in a minute. The platform has “aftereffect” features to help make video albums look more professional.

It is currently adding more functions enabling video content editing to let people do it by themselves.

“We are contemplating whether to make it free, ‘freemium’ or both,” said MJV cofounder Kim Jin-hoi.

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