As the virtual and augmented reality industries grow, many new startups are springing up with the momentum. From developing software to creating hardware, startups are blazing new paths and larger companies have helped to propel the missions of a few of these smaller entities with partnerships and financial investments. Facebook, as reported by the Korea Herald, is partnering with South Korea to inspire startups in a direct way: By taking them under its wing for 10 weeks in California.
Via the new agreement, the Facebook Korea office in Seoul will reportedly be teaming up with Korea Innovation Center of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning along with the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion to choose 10 promising AR and VR firms in Korea. Employees of those 10 firms will spend 10 weeks in Silicon Valley learning tech and business from Oculus VR engineers.
“Outstanding technologies and companies may be considered by the Facebook headquarters for future M&A or supply pool,” Park Dae-sung, head of policy at Facebook Korea, is reported as saying. “We hope to see some very innovative products from killer content to hardware through this program.”
Facebook’s CSO Alex Stamos adds “Korean companies have a fantastic advantage due to the technical and intellectual infrastructure in these areas” after he made his first trip to Seoul to celebrate the new partnership. Facebook has been involved with startups in Korea since 2015 so hopefully, the furthering of this relationship bears fruit in a big way.
