South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced a plan Monday to take advantage of big data to create new business opportunities as she launched a new innovation center.

"Big data is a new capital of the creative economy," Park said in the opening ceremony of the latest innovation center in Chuncheon, some 85 kilometers east of Seoul, in Gangwon Province.

Park's signature creative economy vision calls for boosting the economy and creating jobs by turning creative ideas into real businesses through science and technology and information technology.

The innovation center plans to set up a big data portal in cooperation with Naver Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, by the end of this year to ensure everyone can have access to various big data, according to the presidential office.

Naver Corp. and Gangwon Province also plan to create a fund worth 105 billion won ($96 million) to help facilitate big data industry and to offer business opportunities to startups, according to the presidential office.

Big data refers to obtaining value from massive data sets to help people and companies better see trends in various sectors.

The innovation center is the 10th of its kind in South Korea.

South Korea has been pushing to set up such centers across the country to match up local startups and venture firms with conglomerates, known here as chaebol, which can provide resources to smaller companies so that they can turn creative ideas into real businesses. (Yonhap)