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Wearable Computing Devices in South Korea

l Summary l
The wearable devices market is rapidly growing as many global technology companies are joining the race to be the first to fully develop such devices. South Korean company Samsung was one of the first to showcase such technology through the release of 'Galaxy Gear,' the self-claimed world’s first smart watch in September 2013.

Korea’s wearable devices are still at the being developed in limited areas and are at the early stages of development. ETRI, a government technology research institute, has been a leader of innovation in Korea.
Private companies recently launched pilot projects in the form devices such as watches, in attempts to guage the market for this kind of product. However, the existing regulations relating to the wearable computing device bring up issues such as privacy and as such a resolution to these conflicts is needed.


l Industry Overview l

Global tech giants lead the wearable device race
Google is known to be upgrading its glasses-type wearable smart device named 'Google Glass' which it showcased in 2012. Apple is also rumored to be in the process of introducing a wrist watch type smart device (tentatively in the market being called the iWatch). This is arguably one of the reasons Samsung hurriedly sped up its introduction of the Galaxy Watch in order to both show leadership in the nextgeneration device market and to mitigate domestic criticism that it is unable to develop new technologies and only able to copy other existing technologies.

Korea's wearable devices initiatives

ETRI(Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute), a government technology research institute is heralding Korea's wearable devices initiatives. They developed a wearable accessory-type personal station in 2007, a fabric-based wearable device named 'personal companion’ in 2011 and noncontact multi-point sensory interaction technology in 2012. They are currently in the process of developing a smart glasses platform and a flexible and detachable smart skin patch system.

ETRI's wearable devices
ETRI is also developing an electromyogram-based wheel chair interface for quadriplegia patients, which operates in 3 directions (left/right/forward) through electromyogram signals from the neck. They have developed wearable computing sportswear named 'bio shirt,' which uses electrically conductive fibers to track biometric data such as heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, exercise intensity, etc.