The Korea Software Industry Association (Chairman Lee Hong-gu) announced that it will support the entry of domestic software companies into the Japanese market by operating a software joint hall at the Japan IT Week Spring 2019 held at Aomi Hall, a big site in Tokyo, Japan, from May 8 to 10.

The event is Japan's largest IT exhibition with 102,441 visitors from 1666 companies and 26 countries (as of 2018). Software companies and distributors from not only Japan but also around the world will participate so as to observe the rapidly changing trends of the Japanese IT market. The event is used as a springboard to enter the Japanese market by holding meetings with various companies.

The Japanese market is not easy to enter, but it has a large market that is, as of 2018, six times the size of the domestic software market. It is also a major market for domestic software companies to enter because stable revenue can be generated through continuous maintenance contracts once entered.

Since 2017, the association has continued to operate a joint software hall using the Korea Federation of SMEs support project to promote domestic software companies to enter the Japanese market. This year, companies participating in the exhibition were selected through support projects, and some of the costs, including booth rental, equipment, and transportation fees, were provided to each company.

This year's software joint hall will feature nine companies, including ▲Duson C&I, ▲Skelter Labs, ▲Silk Road Soft, ▲Wibee, ▲Infrastructure, ▲Clevy System, ▲Twigfarm, ▲Funjin, and ▲POSS, and will promote software technologies and products from domestic companies.

In order to enhance the effect of companies participating in the exhibition entering the Japanese market, the association supports the localization of software products for participating companies, and, in cooperation with KBS World Radio, broadcasts participating companies and flagship products in 11 languages, including Japanese, English, and Chinese.

Japan's IT Week, where many distributors and software companies participate, is Japan's largest IT exhibition and is a good event to promote its business and manage customers and partners, an association official said. "We hope that this event will help domestic software companies secure pipelines to enter the local market by securing Japanese channels and partners." To that end, the association will also do its best to lend support, he said.

Meanwhile, the association plans to provide an opportunity to create practical results by inviting Japanese buyers, whom domestic software companies have built relationships through exhibitions, to Korea for follow-up support for this event, and conducting matching consultations.

‍

[Reporter Hyungi Yoon]