ave drastically increased since 2000 (See Attachment 1).


Looking at the technical aspects, 40.0% (73 applications) of the overall 186 applications were related to short-range/near-field communication, 19.4% (36 applications) were related to ultra-mini platforms, 19.0% (35 applications) to wearable platforms, 9.1% (17 applications) to human body communication, 8.1% (15 applications) to a personal mobile gateway, and 5.4% (10 applications) to implantable platforms (See Attachment 2).


Major foreign applicants include leading global companies such as Philips, Xybernaut, and IBM; major domestic applicants include ETRI and KIST. The number of applications filed by commercial domestic companies was small.


Analysts predict an era of wearable computers by 2010, when 60% of the population in advanced countries will be using wearable computers,. Different from the previous PC industry, this area is still an unexplored field that doesn’t have clear dominance or competitors. To lead this new market, various countries around the world are moving fast to secure related core patents.

Core patents of the platform technologies related to wearable computers are mostly held by America. The domestic industry must take a long range position and focus on securing core patents and developing technologies related to unexplored fields, such as upgraded wearable networking and human interface.


The government chose the next-generation PC field, including wearable computers, as a new motive power for the domestic IT industry, and is currently providing active support. Governmental research labs such as ETRI and KIST should continue to secure core technologies and transfer these technologies to commercial companies for application development. By commercializing core technologies for wearable computers, Korea will enjoy a better position in the industry.