seoul convetion bureau

“Web 3.0 X Metaverse” held at COEX from June 26-30

Positive reviews on successful portrayal of web 3.0 market challenges

Metacon, a metaverse conference held on June 29 at COEX, captured the attention of attending field experts both home and abroad.

Metacon is known to be the largest networking and knowledge-sharing festival in Asia in the web 3.0 and metaverse industries, and is the main conference of Seoul Meta Week (SMW). SMW is becoming a global event platform that allows for the exchange and sharing of new trends, as well as information on web 3.0 (intelligent web that allows individuals to own content), the metaverse, NFT, and blockchain technology.

SMW 2023 focused on highlighting web 3.0, NFT, and blockchain, while enabling discussion on and the sharing of the future of the digital economy and what it will mean through keynote speeches by leading experts in web 3.0 and metaverse, as well as pitching sessions of promising unicorn companies. Over 40 speakers from companies all over the world, such as The Sandbox, Google Cloud, Tencent, Nexon Korea, and LG U+, engaged in active debate.

Highlights of this year’s event included various technological trends, as well as Korean and global commercial applications that are in actual use. Jeong Chan-hong, Monoverse’s marketing team leader, provided his take on the event saying, “A wide range of topics are covered at Metacon in very short intervals, and the topics were not just about a certain theme but more about different challenges of the web 3.0 industry. It presented the perfect opportunity for businesses to check the market references.”

SMW 2023 offers platform for open communciation - Selected for STO’s S-BIC Project

SMW is considered a platform of communication and business market for metaverse enterprises throughout the world and STO recognized such performance and achievement, selecting the SMW for the organization’s S-BIC Fostering Project. As part of the project, SMW will be receiving full support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government for five years having started last year in 2022 in order to become a true world-leading international conference.

● ● ● ● ●

Seoul Convention Bureau’s S-BIC Fostering Project

The project is a Seoul MICE growth model that started in 2022 to take local conferences to a more global level based on the long-term partnership of international conference planning businesses in Seoul and event organizers. In order to find and foster conventions that represent the Asian and global MICE industries while wielding a global competitive edge in the hosting of international conferences, the Seoul Convention Bureau selects Seoul global conferences and the organizing PCO and provide five-year support from the selection based on the results of annual evaluation.

● ● ● ● ●

Asia’s Major Event Incorporating Web 3.0 and Metaverse

Targeting Korean and global businesses interested in new technological trends

Metacon with a three-year-long history, now evolved tnto weekly event

S-BIC helps push envelope to go beyond limitations

With web 3.0 rapidly changing the overall dynamics of the industry, technology connected to web 3.0, such as the metaverse, AI, blockchain, and NFT, are gaining attention. Such transformation within the industry explains why business experts in the field have been waiting for the SMW 2023 from the start of this year. Here’s SMW's backstory from STO’s email exchange with Mr. Chris Na, CEO of Chris & Partners, that planned and hosted the SMW.

Q. What kind of event is the SMW exactly?

“In a nutshell, SMW is the largest event in Asia to merge web 3.0 and the metaverse.”

Q. SMW succeeded to invite top global players and renowned experts in the industry in just two years.

“SMW actually first started as a single conference named Metacon three years ago. I thought it was fundamental to create an opportunity to invite companies across the world and get them to engage in networking and interaction with other players in the sector rather than just being at the event. Metacon was then re-branded last year into Seoul Meta Week, a weekly event.”

Q. What was the key focus for this year?

“The key focus for this year would be providing the groundwork for practical validation of enterprises. The industry is rapidly changing, and along with the industry, tech trends are always shifting. But it seems as if companies are more invested in emerging technology rather than verifying how practical existing technology could be. That is why we, together with SMW, tried to concentrate on how real and significant the impact of technological trends could have on the industry as a whole.”

Q. Any achievement you’re particularly proud of?

“A weekly event should be able to offer a wide range of side events or many programs about the sector. Last year, we tried to do everything on our own, so we had to face a lot of challenges. This year, on the other hand, we communicated with field professionals to host various side events and other joint events.”

Q. What is your take on SMW being selected for S-BIC?

“We have high expectations, too. We have been focusing a lot on the domestic market until this year, but we’re planning to promote the event on a more global scale. Two weeks from SMW 2023, I’m visiting an event in Japan that is similar to SMW to both network and discuss collaboration for next year’s SMW. Our goal for the five years during which we will be part of the S-BIC project is to become the undeniably top event in Asia.”

Q. How did S-BIC help?

“I do not know well about how it helped other events, but I should say that it has given us some real support. When you’re organizing an event, a lot of times you’ll find yourself overwhelmed with meeting deadlines on top of one issue arising after another. That prevents you from looking at the event from an unbiased and objective point of view and obviously leads to mistakes. That was where S-BIC came in to play. The timing was perfect, and the project enabled us to check many aspects from a third-party expert’s perspective, without which we could have easily missed many crucial points. I hope many are excited to see SMW become the leading event in Asia.”