KT, France clinch IoT tie-up

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier KT said Thursday it would work with the French Ministry of Digital Affairs to foster ICT businesses.

KT chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu held a meeting with French Minister of State for Digital Affairs Axelle Lemaire on Wednesday in France to discuss future collaboration on the rising Internet of Things technology, a network of objects.

Hwang and Lemaire talked especially about the Internet of Small Things, a term that depicts technology connecting things with a small amount of data traffic.

They also discussed ways to run exchange programs between promising start-ups from both nations.

KT currently operates the Creative Economy Innovation Center in Gyeonggi Province, a start-up incubator, together with the Korean ICT Ministry. The French Digital Ministry runs an ICT incubating program, called French Tech.

“The Gyeonggi innovation center’s initiatives to nurture convergence businesses based on IT and software is in line with those of French tech,” Hwang said.

“KT will try to bring the start-up support programs at the Gyeonggi center and the French ministry to the global standard.”

The center supports Korean start-ups to tap into global markets through KT’s global business networks.

KT said that it hoped this collaboration would further boost ties between the counterparts as well as small and medium-sized firms.

The Korean company is also working with France’s leading telecom firm Orange for nurturing start-ups in both nations.

The KT CEO, meanwhile, is scheduled to visit Finland to meet with high-ranking officials at Finpro, a Finish government agency to support SMEs to run businesses in global markets.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)