South Korea allocated millions in funds for metaverse development
South Korea has allocated millions of funds for the metaverse development. According to the press release from the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, the country has invested 27.7 billion Korean won (approximately $21 million USD). This investment also demonstrates the commitment of the South Korean Government to improving the quality of life for their citizens.
The purpose of this fund allocation is to support the growth of 13 different new projects in various public sectors. These include healthcare, education, tourism, and more. In the healthcare sector, the metaverse can be used to simulate medical procedures and even provide virtual consultations. In addition, the most intriguing of all is tourism which will allow tourists to experience virtual tours of historical places and landmarks.
Funds allocation for New Metaverse development projects
South Korea announced that they will fund around $30 million to support the metaverse projects or startups to expand their business. This was revealed in a news from earlier this week. They further added that the funds are to promote the global expansion of small businesses in the metaverse industry. They intend to accomplish this by facilitating mergers and acquisitions.
Not only that South Korea has been making keen efforts in the development of the metaverse for quite some time now. Previously in February 2022, they invested around $185 million to support the metaverse industry.
“In the field of industrial convergence, the metaverse healthcare platform that provides various health care services such as health management and psychological counseling, and the metaverse education platform that provides high quality public education services for students with health disabilities in elementary, middle, and high schools, are discussed.”
According to the press release
The funds will be allocated to building metaverse labs, academies, and graduate schools. Moreover, the public sectors are not the only one making these efforts. The private sector has also taken up the initiative in launching various metaverse projects. Like Seoul’s metaverse replica.
However, while South Korea is making heavy efforts in the metaverse, one of the world’s leading developers, Meta Platforms’ Reality Labs, had a tough year as its virtual platform Horizon Worlds did not get many users.
Despite the buzz around metaverse, according to Google Trends, people are less interested in the term over the last year, with its popularity dropping by 76% compared to its peak in March 2022.