Seoul will use its pavilion at this week’s CES in Las Vegas to show just how smart the South Korean capital has become.

Under the theme “Seoul: City of Green Technology & Smart Transportation”, the pavilion will feature technology from 60 Korean companies and start-ups.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will operate the main pavilion and the Kostartup joint pavilion, which will feature more than 50 start-ups.

Seoul was ranked tenth in global start-up ecosystems by the Global Ecosystem Report 2022 published by Startup Genome, a global start-up ecosystem evaluation institution. It is evaluated as a city possessing outstanding start-up infrastructure.

At CES, the Seoul Tech Pavilion will be implementing technology related to mobility and ESG (environmental, social and governance) in the main exhibition hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). The pavilion covers 165m² and will be attended by 12 open innovation start-ups and major Korean companies. The Kostartup pavilion will be composed of 50 Korean start-ups over 473m² at Eureka Park, the exhibition hall for countries and start-ups.

Seoul sees the pavilions as platforms to introduce the technology of innovative major Korean companies and start-ups to the global market and propose a vision of Seoul evolving with technology. It will be operated with a theme zone, which implements a vision towards the future and experiential elements, and a tech zone that displays the innovative technologies of companies and start-ups.

A massive 3D 7 by 3m screen will be installed in the theme zone, which will display immersive 4D and 3D videos that show the vision for the future of Seoul. Urban air mobility (UAM), drones, self-driving cars and eco-friendly technology are proposed using anamorphic technology, along with the future industries of Seoul evolving with technology. In addition, through a partnership with Caliverse, an immersive metaverse-based K-Content experience booth will be operated to provide visitors with various sights.

The main pavilion themes of mobility and ESG have been proposed for Seoul Vision 2030. The city is taking active measures, such as establishing a UAM system and preparing measures to implement carbon neutrality. Accordingly, Seoul Business Agency (SBA), the government-contributed institution of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, plans to showcase mobility and ESG in connection with major companies.

An open innovation programme will be held with four major Korean companies to discover six start-ups possessing innovative technology in related fields and support expansion into the global market through technical collaboration, commercialisation support and joint CES exhibitions.

SBA entered partnerships with Lotte Chemical and S-Oil, which are focusing on the eco-friendly energy business, and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and Hancom InSpace, which are specialists in the UAM business and selected six start-ups that fit the technical tasks presented by each company.

Earlier, SBA established a system of cooperation with the Seoul Digital Foundation and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development under the Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups, for the composition and operation of the Kostartup pavilion. The selection of start-ups will be expanded to 50 companies, and systematically integrated services will be provided. The start-ups specialise in mobility, bio and healthcare, ESG, manufacturing and data.

The selected companies will receive one-stop integrated services, from pre-consulting for CES, on-site exhibition and interpretation, IR presentations, and follow-up management. In particular, consulting training was conducted on the show’s innovation awards, and 17 companies succeeded in winning a CES 2023 Innovation Award.

In addition, SBA signed separate partnerships with the business groups of four universities – Kyunghee, Kookmin, Sogang and Chung-ang – and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development to give support for the exhibition. Fifty university students were also selected for local support for the exhibiting companies in the Kostartup pavilion.

The selected students are set to be matched 1:1 with start-ups in their desired fields and taught about their corresponding companies in advance to improve their understanding of these companies.

Hyunwoo Kim, SBA CEO, said: “While we plan to propose a future vision of Seoul evolving with technology with the world’s biggest IT expo, CES, as the stage, we also plan to actively support the expansion of innovative start-ups, which lead Seoul’s start-up ecosystem, into global markets.”