Korean Event to Piggyback OFC

GWANGJU, South Korea -- Gwangju photonics cluster, a heart of photonics industry in South Korea, announced today that it would host Korea Day 2004 event held at Wednesday, February 25, 2004 (4:00PM ? 8:30PM) in Holiday Inn LA City Center, CA. This event is parallel with Optical Fiber Communications Conference 2004.

The Korea Day 2004 was designed to educate attendees about business environment, opportunities and photonics-supporting infrastructure in the Korean optical communications market in 2004 and beyond. Industry experts from local government, national communication R&D institutions, Foreign Investment Attraction Agency in Gwangju, system vendors including Cisco and Nortel, north American venture capital, major domestic carrier of Korea Telecom, a new photonics startup in Gwangju will discuss domestic carriers, winning strategies for optical networking equipment and component sales and distribution, channel and vendor partners, governmental and regulatory assistance programs, local development and manufacturing, and the financial risks and rewards of investing in this growth market. In this event, Gwangju Photonics Cluster declares that it will become a photonics gateway into Asian market.

Benefits of attending are tremendous. The opportunities in South Korea also present formidable challenges. Establishing relationships and understanding the business practices of the culture takes time. The Korea Day 2004 gathered key professionals together to offer visibility into the market and arm those executives seeking a strategic edge with the information needed to make critical decisions about business opportunities in South Korea. To improve this relationship, Gwangju city will launch “Gwangju Photonics Cluster Advisory Board” on 11:30AM, Feb-25-2004 which is consisted of north American photonics CEO or CTO, VCs, University faculties, and others. In addition, during OFC2004, there will be about 60 Korean photonics vendors on the floor of exhibition halls including Korean vendors’ island headed by Korea Association of Photonics Industry Development (KAPID).

The Korean government is granting a total of $750M including Phase-I(2000-2003) and Phase-II (2004-2008) photonics development programs to Gwangju City to build a photonics infrastructure at whose heart is KOPTI. To support Korean researchers and companies KOPTI is well equipped with 360,000 sqft lab space, sixty million dollars equipments and facility as well as a Telcordia qualification lab. In addition, KOPTI’s new proposal of sub-system FAB Line Program approved by the government will fill a gap between new business startups and venture capitalists by supporting prototyping, pilot production and marketing. KOPTI hopes that this new program will gather many photonics vendors to this world-best photonics cluster city of Gwangju, Korea where the heart of Korean photonics industry is located. “Anybody from the world with a new breakthrough technology concept, talents and team is welcome to Gwangju,” said Dr. Sang-Sam CHOI, president of KOPTI.