Government puts money behind digital content jobs

The Korean government said yesterday that it will invest 130.9 billion won ($134.7 million) this year to help local digital content makers enhance their global competitiveness. The Ministry of Information and Communication said most of the investment will be spent on nurturing the local software industry and training the needed workers for the fast-developing digital content sector. The digital content sector includes software, games, online portals, and audio and video files. The ministry said it will also use the money to improve distribution channels for the overall digital content sector, though it did not provide specific breakdown figures. The investment plan was included in the ministry’s report on the trends of information technology markets at home and abroad. According to the report, Korea’s digital content industry is forecast to grow at an annual average of 13 percent to 10 trillion won in 2007 and 15 trillion won in 2010, helped by brisk sales of online games and new mobile communications services such as digital multimedia broadcasting. During the period, the world’s digital content market will also expand 13.2 percent annually to $80.2 billion, the ministry noted. The report also highlighted that high Internet penetration was expected to cause the world’s “e-learning” sector to grow 21.4 percent every year, from $8 billion in 2005 to $21.2 billion by 2010.