A number of trade shows, festivals, and conferences are held every year in a wide range of business sectors in South Korea. However, not a single event brings music, film and tech industries all together under one roof. That is going to change soon.

The +822 Summit conference -- to be held from Oct. 28 to 30 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, an exhibition and cultural center in Seoul -- will serve not only as a cross-industry networking platform, but also as a bridge that links global investors and creators to those based in Seoul, said Richard Min, founder and chief executive of convergence platform developer +822.

“There are still a lot of ‘black box’ views from the outside, people don’t know what is going on here (in Seoul),” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald last week.

“By creating such an event we will be able to create a different impact and change the perception of Korea by showcasing the best innovation, the best creativity and its coolness.”

The +822 Summit is aimed at fostering convergence between different businesses including IT, music, fashion, beauty, and movies, and will be a venue where people with different backgrounds can share ideas and network with entrepreneurs and investors from around the world.

The three-day event is somewhat similar to South by Southwest, or SXSW -- a set of conferences and festivals featuring the trendiest things in a range of industries held in Austin, U.S.

The CEO of the Seoul-based start-up, who is a veteran speaker at global tech conferences including SWSW, said he would make the +822 conference a unique event that can be found only in Seoul.

“You will be getting the live experience, concerts, fashion shows, movies, as well as high-level talks, inspiration and business connections,” he said.

A total of 30,000 to 40,000 participants -- including those 2,000 anticipated to join paid conferences -- will likely visit the three-day cross-industry event.

Prominent figures from the IT sector including Dave McClure, investor and founder of Sillicon Valley venture capital 500 Startup, Akira Morikawa, former CEO of Naver Japan and Line, and Kim Yong-soo, managing director of Google’s SMB Sales Americas will deliver keynote speeches during the Seoul-event.

When asked why his firm took the initiative to hold such a large-scale event to foster the domestic start-up industry, he said he could not miss the opportunity to create a platform for sustainable growth of Korean start-ups.

“The timing is perfect. We have actual government support for this kind of area (through the creative economy policy) and we have a global trend that start-ups push innovation forward,” said the CEO, also mentioning the popularity of Korean films, dramas, and music around the world.

“If not now, when? If not us, who?” he asked back.

Speaking on the Korean start-up scene, he said the biggest differences between Silicon Valley and the Korean market is the former puts focus on “value” and “sharing” while the latter often puts priority on profits.

“Now the culture should be how we help the next generations, how we support the next start-ups and how we support innovation beyond the borders,” he said.

By Kim Young-won  (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)