I wandered the halls of the XR and Metaverse section of Central Hall at the LVCC last week, looking for signs of the Metaverse, and its second cousins web3 and Crypto, but they were nowhere to be found. Then, as I wandered a maze of Korean companies in Eureka Park, a mile away in the Sands Expo Center, I came upon a whole Metaverse pavilion.
The K-Metaverse Pavilion was organized by the Korean government agency NIPA which brought ten Korean XR companies to Las Vegas this year. The country has been touting public support for the Metaverse in recent years, including a set of investments in the metaverse totaling $177.1 million from 2022-2026 as part of its Digital New Deal 2.0. Three of the companies exhibiting in the Pavilion won a CES Innovation Award.
NIPA’s President, Hur SungWook, has a very broad definition of the Metaverse. “The Metaverse is industrial, the metaverse is digital twins, the metaverse is important to education, training and safety,” he told me through his translator. “This market is going to really grow now that Apple is releasing the Vision Pro.” NIPA runs an incubator that provides office space, strategic advice, networking, and assistance with fundraising.
“The role of government in the incubation of young technology companies is different in Asia.” Mr. SungWook said. “For one thing, Asian countries have historically been more public in supporting their own Metaverse companies.” With this broad lens we took a look at a very diverse group of companies with creative VR and AR applications. Two companies at the K-Metaverse Pavilion focused on education.
GLOBEPOINT develops XR learning content for professional training and education and has deployed projects in over 200 Korean schools with 30,000 pieces of content created by educators using its VRWare School, VRWare StoryBuilder, and Metaware tools.MetaEduSys builds custom education content, with projects deployed in 60 Korean schools and universities. At CES, they presented the app ‘VR Wildfire Education’, a virtual experiential learning tool designed to address the increase in global forest fires. This year, the company is working on an LMS for public education and a web-VR cross-platform for safety training and tourism.
Taking a more traditional view of XR in healthcare, Techvillage’s RehabWare is a digital rehabilitation device for the recovery of motor functions in stroke patients, with deployments at Seoul National University Hospital and the Asian Medical Center (Seoul). The K-Metaverse has included XR consumer fitness apps at its other events. At CES, I saw digital fitness company Human IT Solution. They offer T-ON FITNESS (an AI-based exercise program), T-ON PILATES (visualization meditation-based pilates), T-ON PROFIT (an bench press exercise program), and T-ON OS (a management system for deploying XR exercise and pilates programs in physical centers).
LBStech that aims to create a barrier-free urban environment for people with disabilities. Their G-EYE Plus is a walkway navigation for the visually impaired to navigate streets and public transportation, with deployments in Daejeon, Sejong, and Ho Chi Minh City.
Finally, Wave Company showcased their analytics supported smart apparel, ElecSuit, designed to optimize human movement. Their ElecSuit delivers electrical stimulation and haptic feedback for its users. Additionally, their TracMe smart fitness solution utilizes motion tracking sensors to enhance workout precision.
The K-Metaverse Pavilion included two hardware companies, as well as one focusing on VPS and digital twin platforms:
The2H presented their PersonalSpace product, a wearable compact device specifically architected to deliver 4DX experience with several sensory features, enhancing the immersive experience. In real-time sync with the flow of scenes and events on movie, game or other media content, PersonalSpace provides a more interactive experience. PersonalSpace was a CES 2024 Innovation Award Honoree.
Another CES Innovation Award Honoree was the Holo Button by Vtouch, which builds XR peripherals. Vtouch makes three AI-supported products: the Spatial Touch (a spatial mouse), WHSP RING (a spatial keyboard), and Holo Button (a spatial hyperlink). The Holo Button floats a real hologram in the air and detects contact with a distance sensor to use as a button.
DEEP.FINE develops XR-based spatial information convergence technology. DSC, its XR-based space construction solution, offers 3D spatial mapping and AR indoor guidance services for end-users.
From K-Pop to film and TV like Squid Game and Parasite, Korean companies are working on leveraging Korea’s cultural capital to create XR content. In this space is Sidewalk Entertainment, an AI startup utilizing motion-tracking technology to create content in real-time. Their product, STEPIN, is a user-friendly K-Pop dance platform.