Forwarded message 1
World Wide Web Consortium Launches Korean Office
W3C strengthens presence in the Asia-Pacific region through Korea
outreach
Contact Americas, Australia --
Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe --
Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
Saeko Takeuchi, <saeko@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170
http://www.w3.org/ -- 19 April 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/.
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