Barcelona closes the gap with South Korea in terms of innovation. Barcelona is the headquarters of a test bed project (or Proof of Concept-PoC) which has been carried out by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Seoul Business Agency (SBA); two organizations that support and promote the development of emerging companies in Seoul.
Once this project is completed, both entities plan to expand these technologies throughout Europe, including Spain. This is the second edition after the success obtained in June last year, in the Glòries shopping center in Barcelona, where five startups supported by the company OASTA Consulting participated. Seven Korean startups are participating in this second edition: four are set up at Casa Batlló (Dtonic, Gaudio Lab, Mopic and Razen) until the end of April and another 3 at L’illa Diagonal (12CM, Ehan Creative and WE-AR), until the end of April. end of March.
Some 130 startups have applied for the test bed project of this year’s edition to participate in Casa Batlló and L’illa Diagonal. The project consists of adapting the technological solutions presented by emerging companies to the specific needs of Barcelona’s emblematic spaces. Thus, after a collaborative process to agree on solutions and content, the technologies are open to the public and some can be visited for free.
3D screens without glasses, an inclusive information totem adapted to people with functional diversity, immersive audio to tell the story of the Casa Batlló façade and an electronic label solution are the technologies that can be found in Gaudí’s building. In L’illa Diagonal it has been possible to see an app for children to hunt animated characters, a digital stamp and some augmented reality filters from Instagram. Once the test bench is finished, the project contemplates that the startups can continue collaborating with both entities.
Barcelona, innovation springboard for Europe
Dong-ho Sung, head of the division of startup of the SBA, explained: “I think the Proof of Concept project is a great opportunity to effectively showcase the excellent technologies that Korean startups possess in the global market. Starting from Barcelona, we will spare no effort to promote the development of new companies, so that they will soon be known in Europe”.
Phil-Jae Park, Director of the Innovation and Growth team at KITA, highlighted: “As an institution with extensive international experience in PoC, we will support the global expansion of Korean start-ups, by internationalizing the network of corporate partners and flagship facilities abroad”.
