With the emergence of the web-based platform ‘Metaverse’, which combines meta meaning transcendence and processing, and ‘universe’ meaning space or the real world, various new forms of business are being derived. In this kind of atmosphere, Ficus Korea is attracting attention with its driving role in the development of the domestic metaverse platform industry. 

Ficus Korea CEO Keongran Yoo focused on metaverse technology, which is expected to create new value by enabling human interaction, collaboration, learning, and play in a virtual space without time, space, age, or gender restrictions, and  which also has endless potential for further development. The company’s main activities include building a metaverse platform and digital twin system, software development and supply, and training. In order to improve business performance, the company signed a license as an official partner of ENGAGEVR Korea, an ISO-certified metaverse global platform from Ireland, in 2021. The ENGAGEVR platform is a metaverse platform designed primarily for businesses and event organizers to provide various services to their customers in a virtual space. It is compatible with other Metaverse platforms around the world, so Fortune 500 companies such as Meta, 3M, and HSBC are actively utilizing it, and domestic companies are also using it extensively for virtual meetings, presentations, events, collaboration, education/training, etc.

Developing leading experts in the metaverse, leading to employment and entrepreneurship

Establishing a VR metaverse tourism service that “brings Tongyeong, a city of art and tourism, to life in high-definition 3D”

Ficus Korea develops metaverse content based on the ENGAGEVR platform, builds metaverse virtual spaces (offices, shopping malls, schools, venues, etc.) using Unity/Unreal Engine and its own platform IFX technology, organizes metaverse-based events/festivals, and promotes and markets domestic medical/cultural/entertainment/tourism/educational content based on the metaverse platform. With the ultimate goal of becoming the hub of Asia in the field of metaverse content, the company is also focusing on fostering professional talent to lead the domestic metaverse field. As part of this, the company operates a training course (practical training/practice) to train metaverse utilization leaders and metaverse casters active in virtual space under the Ministry of Science and ICT and issues certificates. Through this, the company has produced a large number of employees and founders, and is playing a role in fostering future industry talent.

In the short period of three years since its establishment, Ficus Korea has made numerous achievements in the field of metaverse. In October 2022, the company held a Metaverse Utilization Leader Training at the E-Learning Center of Korea Polytechnic University, Seoul Jeongsoo Campus. The company plans to create an environment where Asian youth can come and take the Metaverse Utilization Leader and Metaverse Caster qualification exams operated by Ficus Korea, and to increase synergies with overseas industries. The company conducted Metaverse training at Gwangjin-gu Office in Seoul, Tongyeong City Hall in Gyeongnam, Daewon International Middle School, Osan University, Joongbu University, and Continuing Education Institute, and produced and supplied EUSG-linked comparative studies program content to Kyungnam University. The company was also selected to participate in the Daejeon Youth Metaverse Fair organized by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the 19th Korea Youth Fair at Songdo Convention Center in Incheon. The company hosted a metaverse event at a creative convergence festival hosted by the Sejong City Office of Education, which was a huge success and led to sales of content and device delivery, and also hosts weekend learning programs for the Sejong City Office of Education. In particular, the company dispatches women with career breaks from Hyundai Motor Company in Ulsan as lecturers after training, and after obtaining certifications through the Tongyeong City Hall Metaverse Utilization Leader Course, they are leading to the establishment of a Korean Metaverse Research Institute. Currently, they are organizing Metaverse events throughout Tongyeong, contributing to the revitalization of the local economy and job creation, and driving future industrial development together. Most recently, the company successfully completed the world’s first summer special program in which students from Pohang University of Science and Technology and the UK’s GOLD LOTUS, a pioneer in VR English learning, held LIVE classes in a virtual space. In July 2023, the company held a metaverse caster training course based on the Engage platform for undergraduate and graduate students at POSTECH. The purpose of the event was to build a metaverse-based industry-academia collaboration model and promote business advancement through the development and application of global industry-academia training courses, and it was well received by the participants. Ficus Korea has developed and operated Metaverse Live English and ESG green energy training programs, and has also provided special lectures on Metaverse-based London sightseeing and helicopter rides during the summer vacation. The company is also working on a project to build tourism products and hotels around the world on the ENGAGEVR platform, and has recently built Tongyeong and London City, and is currently focusing on promoting the Korean cultural world by operating a VR metaverse tourism service (linked to NFTs) through VISITKOREA.COM that allows users to realistically experience the beautiful attractions of Tongyeong, Gyeongnam, a city of art and tourism, in high-quality 3D.

CEO Yoo is a certified Metaverse Platform Utilization Leader and a founding Metaverse Caster

“Expanding VR learning and VR tourism services to attractions around the world will drive the development of the future metaverse industry”

Meanwhile, the company is supporting prospective entrepreneurs/employers who will contribute to the development of the Metaverse industry by selling Metaverse experience HMD equipment. In order to fulfill its corporate social responsibility, Ficus Korea, which has secured a leading position in the development of domestic metaverse platforms, also strives to publicize abnormal climate phenomena that threaten the earth in the metaverse environment and introduce carbon neutrality activities and ESG management practices that have become a global hot topic. CEO Yoo is the founder of the Metaverse Platform Utilization Leadership Certification Program and the new profession of Metaverse Caster. She was the first female entrepreneur in the world to set up a corporate pavilion on the ENGAGEVR Metaverse platform, and in September 2022, she gave a special lecture on Metaverse University and NFTs at a workshop on AI and Metaverse held by the Korea Metaverse Technology Research Institute for the general public (topic: “Let’s board the Metaverse”). She said “Metaverse is an immersive content that is structured to interconnect activities such as economic, social, cultural, educational, entertainment, and shopping in the real world and virtual space, and the global metaverse market is expected to grow to $1.29 trillion by 2030. As a pioneer of the metaverse in Korea, we are conducting a research course on the impact of VR on learning at GOLD LOTUS LONDON UNIVERSITY, a VR skills learning company in the UK, and will continue to lead the development of the metaverse industry by expanding our VR education business and focusing on metaverse tourism services around the world.”