World Wide Web Consortium Launches Korean Office; W3C Strengthens Presence in the Asia-Pacific Region Through Korea Outreach.

Business Editors

http://www.w3.org/--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2002

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) launches its Korean Office, based at the Protocol Engineering Center (PEC) of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Daejeon, Korea.

Dr. Steven R. Bratt, Chief Operating Officer of W3C, Dr. Seungtaik Yang, representing the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication, and Dr. Gilrok Oh, President of ETRI are among those attending today's opening ceremonies at the Lotte Hotel, in Daejeon.

The Korean Office is the newest W3C outreach center in the Asia-Pacific Region, joining an active roster which includes W3C Offices in Australia at DSTC, the W3C Office in Hong Kong based at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, as well as the W3C Asian host site, Keio University in Japan.

The opening ceremony is a public event, with presentations and tutorials from the W3C Technical Team, including:

- Dr. Steven R. Bratt, Chief Operating Officer of W3C: "Overview of W3C"

- Dr. Marie-Claire Forgue, European Communications Officer of W3C: "W3C Process for Issuing W3C Recommendations"

- Yongwoon Kim, CTO of INITECH, "W3C Activities in Korea"

- Dr. Ivan Herman, Head of Offices at W3C: "Overview of XML related Recommendations"

- Prof. Kazuhiro Kitakawa, Device Independence Activity Lead at W3C: "Device Independence activities of W3C"

- Dr. Tatsuya Hagino, Deputy Director of W3C for Asia: "Semantic Web"

Korea's Internet Presence, Industry is Growing

Korea has one of the fastest growing economies in East Asia. Information technology is considered to be one of the most important sources of growth. While the IT industry contributed to the economic growth (GDP) of the country with a mere 4.5% in 1990, this drastically increased to over 50% in 2000. Today, Korea is home to some of the largest IT companies in the world, including the manufacture of internet appliances. With a strong history of early adoption of new technologies, Korea is a strong choice for the creation of a W3C Office, to encourage standards-based technology development.

ETRI to Provide W3C Connection and Outreach to Korea

As a vendor-neutral, active Member of W3C, and with an extensive contact network and shared objectives for Web development, ETRI meets the criteria for W3C Office selection.

ETRI itself is a well established research center with an annual budget of around USD 4 million, and a staff of nearly 1,900 researchers. ETRI covers a broad range of research areas, from telecommunication to virtual reality, image databases, and VLSI memory chip design. While the Protocol Engineering Center (PEC) is home to a number of Internet related activities, the usage of W3C technologies, like XML, XML Query, CC/PP (and Device Independence in general), is evident in around many research programs throughout ETRI.

ETRI has a tradition of developing prototypes that are adopted and implemented by local industry. In this way, ETRI has built an extensive network of contacts with Korean industry. Using this network, ETRI has the potential for creating broader awareness of W3C technologies. W3C looks forward to a long-term partnership with ETRI, leading to a stronger Korean voice within W3C and a greater awareness in Korea of W3C's Activities. Dr. Kishik Park of ETRI serves as the Manager of the W3C Office in Korea; Dr. Kangchan Lee serves as the Coordinator of the office.

About W3C Offices

As part of realizing the full potential of the Web, W3C partners with regional organizations wishing to further W3C's mission. The W3C Offices assist with promotion efforts in local languages, help broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities. W3C currently has Offices in Australia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Korea, Morocco, The Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS) in the USA, the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA) in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new technology. To date, nearly 500 organizations are Members of the Consortium. For more information see http://www.w3.org/.