Korea International Trade Association(KITA) launches first private Startup Testbed in collaboration with COEX, WTC Seoul, COEX Aquarium and CALT

The Korea International Trade Association(KITA) is organizing Korea’s first private Startup Testbed Initiative in collaboration with 4 major companies: WTC Seoul (Infrastructure & facilities), COEX (Conventions & Exhibitions), COEX Aquarium, and CALT(City Airport). This pioneering initiative, titled “COEX Testbed” will support startups in conducting real-world field trials for their technology in COEX.

COEX is commonly associated with a vast land of entertainment and business complex at the heart of Seoul, including convention & exhibition facilities, underground shopping malls, office buildings, and a city airport. However, it actually takes more than one brand name to describe the immensity of business opportunities created through this platform.

The COEX Testbed Initiative will prove beneficial for startups in expanding their reach and accessibility to potential consumers. COEX hosts over 2,500 international events and is visited by over 30 million tourists and business travellers every year, which makes it the best platform for startups to test out their technology to assess and improve the results of real consumer engagement.

 Startups can experiment technology with consumers real-time

Startups can explore various verticals on a wide spectrum of test platform run by each company. With WTC Seoul, which manages infrastructure and facilities in COEX, startups can test indoor navigation services, smart office management systems, parking systems, interactive ads and any tech-based store promotion. At the convention & exhibition halls in COEX, startups can examine their big data analysis technology, digital marketing for exhibitions, and visitor registration & business matching tools by interacting with real users. The large COEX aquarium can help startups try out their AR/VR solutions for visitor experience, smart visual promotion tools and any other public entertainment-related technology. The CALT (City Airport) can help startup experiment with limousine technology tools, logistic management and travel visitor data management systems.

The application for the Testbed is open worldwide and any startup with creative solutions that can enhance the customer experience across the COEX platform can participate.

The deadline for the application is August 12, 2019, and startups can apply using the link: https://bit.ly/312AtKy

(Inquiry : onekita@kita.net).

About KITA

Korea International Trade Association(KITA), established in 1946, is an organisation that supports trading and business in Korea. It is the largest business organization in Korea with over 70,000 member companies. KITA serves a diverse range of roles, including providing hands-on support to trade companies, drawing trade cooperation from the private sector, formulating new trade strategies, nurturing trade professionals and building trade infrastructure. KITA is also dedicated to assisting SMEs in gaining foreign market entry and has been supporting startups with various initiatives.

ABOUT COEX

COEX provides a global exchange platform where people and businesses come together through exhibitions and conferences. COEX has become a pillar of the Asian MICE market as both Seoul’s greatest exhibition venue and a tourist attraction with infrastructure to service all business needs.

ABOUT CALT

The Korea City Airport Terminal (CALT) provides various services like check-in and immigration clearance services to passengers traveling by air at the Coex City Airport Terminal in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu. CALT offers Premium Airport Limousine Shuttle services to and from the Incheon International Airport over 60 times daily. As an affiliate of KITA, the logistics division of CALT supports local small-and-medium trading companies by providing reliable logistics services, such as warehousing, stock management, transportation, shipping container leasing, and other logistics operations in CALT’s 5 logistics centers at the Incheon International Airport, the Busan New Port, and Pyeongtaek Seaports.

ABOUT COEX Aquarium

The COEX Aquarium is one of South Korea’s largest Aquariums with over 40,000 creatures from over 650 species. The aquarium within the COEX mall gets numerous visitors throughout the year.