 |
| gettyimagesbank |
By Baek Byung-yeul
The government is seeking to nurture the country's smart home business in cooperation with Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Hyundai E&C and other Korean IT, construction and home interior companies, helping them to have more opportunities in the lucrative home automation-related market, both at home and abroad, the ICT ministry said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Science and ICT held a meeting at the headquarters of real estate platform operator Zigbang in Seoul to discuss fostering a smart home ecosystem here with experts from not only Samsung, LG and Hyundai E&C but also from interior design companies such as Hanssem and state-run companies such as Korean Land & Housing Corporation.
A smart home is an Internet of Things (IoT) system that wirelessly controls multiple devices and applications at home. As various companies had provided their own IoT platforms, users were not able to conveniently use integrated services, but things are changing since last year when Big Tech companies decided to launch a unified IoT protocol called Matter.
In October 2022, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), a global standards organization led by global Big Tech companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Google, Amazon and Apple, announced that it would create an IoT standard protocol called Matter and support interworking and control between different IoT devices. So far, about 530 companies are participating in the Matter IoT standard integration protocol.
"With the emergence of the intelligent smart home as a crucial frontier of the digital transformation, this meeting was organized to assess the current state of the country's intelligent smart home industry and discuss ways to secure global competitiveness," the ICT ministry said.
Assessing the current situation of the local smart home industry, participants agreed that the domestic smart home industry is facing difficulties in device development and investment especially for small and medium-sized companies due to the different platform environments set up by big companies in IT, telecommunications and construction sectors, adding that users are also experiencing inconvenience due to this reason.
"The transition of the global intelligent smart home market due to the unification of global smart home standards and the development of AI is both a crisis and an opportunity for Korea," Park Yun-kyu, second vice minister of science and ICT, said. "We will actively utilize the smart home market transition period to create an intelligent smart home ecosystem with the public and private sectors."
To resolve this issue, the participants discussed cooperation among smart home-related companies in connection with the recent introduction of the Matter standard.
As Big Tech companies are focusing on this market by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the participants also discussed ways to secure the competitiveness of the domestic industry using artificial intelligence.
The ICT ministry said various opinions were exchanged on public-private cooperation such as activating the introduction of smart homes in existing and general houses as well as new apartment buildings, launching an intelligent smart home alliance and strengthening security.
![[INTERVIEW] Ecolab helps Korean partners profit from ESG management](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/7a924189dbb7426ab12275ba98702309.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'Lifeline for migrant workers in Korea' - Rev. Kim fights for foreign employees' rights](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/8fb4b5d381da49df90276394550f2889.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Korea to work with US, Japan to fight climate change](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/800d9054a14b4a0f9cc576366cc1b914.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Hip-hop group Uptown returns after 13 years with new lineup](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/0eae35da5e9c40c38cf439e550a2eb3e.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] ASTRO members aim to shine in musical theater](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/df16760dc50f469d93434f66a069465c.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
