Digital transformation and the expansion of content value takes centre stage at this year’s Asia Content & Entertainment (ACE) Fair and content developer conference in Gwangju in September, highlighting vital top-of-mind issues driving sweeping change across all industry sectors. 

The fair, which takes place from 22-25 September, is the largest scale physical event for the content industry in Korea this year. The second Content Developer Conference (CDC) runs for two days – 22 and 23 September – alongside the fair.

More than 120 overseas buyers are participating in the four-day event, including 50 who will be participating in-person, courtesy of the Korean government’s decision to lower restrictions on foreign visitors.

This will be the most largest scale physical fair on the content industry, in Korea this year.

 Among the event highlights is a networking party involving Korean government officials along with key Korean and international companies across a range of verticals, including entertainment, education, animation and games. 

Contact [email protected] for more inquiries.
 

The 2nd CDC (Content Developer Conference) 

Running alongside activities on the first two days of the fair is the second Content Developer Conference (CDC), which features a series of discussions ranging from OTT and Metaverse to NFTs and Monetization.

The conference theme this year is “The evolution of digital platforms and the future of content”.

The keynote speech and OTT session will be held on 22 September, followed by a delegates’ networking party. 

Metaverse, NFT and Monetization sessions will be held on 23 September. 

Companies involve in the CDC conference include Microsoft and Unity Technologies for the Metaverse session; streaming platform Wavve, about global expansion strategy of K-content for the OTT session; investment management Beeblock, on Web 3.0 for the NFT session; and marketing/communications agency The SMC Group, for the Monetization session.

The first CDC, held online+on-ground in September last year, featured a keynote by Meta (Facebook), with strong involvement from Korean government bodies and leading brands, such as Samsung, Kia and Nexon. 

Find out more about this conference on www.acefair.or.kr. 
Contact [email protected] for more inquiries. 

Presenting the companies you can meet at ACE Fair 2022!

☑ Daekyo (Broadcasting)

Founded in 1975, Daekyo is an all-round educational company that has grown into the nation’s best educational and cultural service enterprise and has emerged as a frontrunner in the field of education. 

Daekyo cherishes the value “Love of Noonnoppi”, which is Korean for “eye level”, representing learner-oriented educational methods.
Daekyo has been steadily growing its media business as part of its vision for the future. 

Operating channels for children such as Daekyo Kids TV, Daekyo Nori Q and Pocket TV, Daekyo sources and creates educational but entertaining programmes.

Believing in growth through play, Daekyo’s originals are designed to help children develop awareness, social skills, body and emotion, all of which are essential for growth. 

In addition, the company is involved in media commerce, theatrical distribution as well as licensing and toy business with excellent internal/external intellectual properties.
 

☑ Zee (Broadcasting)

Zee Content Sales is the licensing and syndication arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and currently houses one of the largest libraries of creative and broadcasting entertainment content in the world. Top titles include:

ABHAY
Episodes/length: 8 x 40 mins
Seasons available: 3
Genre: Thriller
Inspired by true crime stories, this series revolves around Abhay Pratap Singh, a gutsy cop who can outwit any criminal.

Never kiss your best Friend
Episodes/length: 8 x 40 mins 
Seasons available: 2
Genre: Drama
Tanie, a best-selling writer, frequently finds herself caught between friendship & love.

Karenjit Kaur
Episodes/length: 10 x 23 mins 
Genre: Drama/biopic
The sensational journey of India’s most googled star, Karenjit Kaur aka Sunny Leone. 
 

☑ TAICCA (Content Agency) 

Taiwan Creative Content Agency 
(TAICCA), established in June 2019 and supervised by the Ministry of Culture, is a professional intermediary organisation that promotes the development of Taiwan’s content industries. TAICCA supports various cultural content industries in Taiwan, including film and television, pop music, publishing, ACG, and fashion, artworks and cultural technologies.

With advanced information and communication technology infrastructure and emerging technologies in Taiwan, TAICCA manages National Development Fund to develop intellectual property (IP), incubate culture technologies, and facilitate startups.

Among the delegates led by Taicca, is animation production company Shaogao. Shaogao creates a series of animated shorts featuring the life adventures of the hilariously funny Shao Gao and his ever lovable but sometimes too high maintenance girlfriend Babe. The Shaogao team loves to tell stories and what better way to tell them then through animations!
 

☑ Eyescream Studio (Animation)  

Eyescream Studio was established as a TV CF and Exhibition film CGI service provider in 2006. Since 2010, the studio has been developing its own animation.

The first animated property, Detective Arki, won Best Technology Award in 2011 SPP Competition. 

The studio subsequently produced Duda and Dada, an animated TV series with EBS, the top Korean broadcasting station for children. Duda and Dada premiered on EBS in December 2013 and achieved top ratings/audience share. 

In the global market, Duda and Dada has been distributed to China, France and Russia as well as Latin America. In China, indoor theme park experiences were developed around the property along with specialised cinemas for Duda and Dada 4D-ride action series.

Eyescream Studio is also putting the finishing touches on its first feature film, Duda and Dada The secret of HUHU Island (working title) for distribution within this year. Additional animation projects for new-media platforms are in pre-production. 
 

☑ Maro Studio (Animation) 

Entering the animation business in 2008, Maro Studio won the Presidential Award (animation category) at the Korea Content Awards in 2010. Based on 15 years of technology development and animation production know-how, Maro Studio secured its own AI-utilised patented technology and carried out AI projects using virtual characters with leading companies in Korea, including the development and production of Espa Virtual Character. 

Maro Studio is now expanding its business through VR/AR/XR production suitable for the metaverse era. 

Among its animation projects over the years, the studio produced the first safety education animation and co-planned/produced the world’s first K-Pop animation series, Shining Star, with SM Entertainment. 

Currently, Maro is continuously producing a number of works such as Espa’s Metaverse Worldview Character Series and K-pop Girl Animation by SM Entertainment using Mai Al Solution, a patented technology specialising in developing virtual contents developed by Maro Studio. 
 

☑ JcurvEnt (Game)

JcurvEnt is a specialised mobile game developer that prides itself on fast execution and a team of developers with long experience.  

A major project in the works is “Real Fishing Battle”, a real-tiime 1:1 battle fishing game, based on realistic high-quality graphics, intended for the global market.  
 

And there’s more! For enquiries, please contact:

acefair.or.kr
• ACE Fair 2022 
Tel: +82 62-611-2244 
Email: [email protected]
• The 2nd CDC 
Tel: +82 62-611-2247 
Email: [email protected]

Address
30 Sangmunuriro
Seo-gu, Gwangju, 61958
Republic of Korea


Sponsored content brought to you by Gwangju ACE Fair. Published in ContentAsia September 2022 magazine