• - Led by Hanteo Global, KRW 5.11 billion to be invested through 2028…Development of K-Culture national standard culture index
• - Establishment of KCPI generation and analysis technology to quantify global Hallyu influence
• I- ndustry-academia-research consortium formed with Korea’s top AI and big data researchers, including Kyung Hee University and Kwangwoon University
• - Data architecture verified through 47 national projects combined with OECD standard methodology and an ultra-gap AI engine

[Hanteo News = Reporter JUNG JUNHWA] Hanteo Global Inc. (CEO KWAK YOUNGHO) has been finally selected as the lead research and development institution for developing a “national standard culture index” that quantifies the global influence of Korea’s overall cultural industry, and is now beginning the project in earnest.

Hanteo Global recently announced that it held the kick-off meeting for “K-Culture Power Index (KCPI) - Development of a National Standard Culture Index,” a policy-demand project supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), at Whosfan Studio.

The official project title is “Development of KCPI Generation and Influence Analysis Service Technology for Quantifying Global Hallyu Influence.” It is a large-scale national project with total R&D funding of KRW 5.11667 billion, including KRW 4.1 billion in government support. The research period will run for a total of 33 months, from April 1, 2026 to December 31, 2028.

In this research and development project, Hanteo Global Inc. will serve as the lead institution, led by principal investigator CEO KWAK YOUNGHO. Kyung Hee University, represented by Professor KIM TAEKYUNG’s team from the Department of Big Data Analytics; Kwangwoon University, represented by Professor LIM DONGHYUK’s team from the School of Information Convergence and the Department of Applied Artificial Intelligence; OMOTION Inc.; DOST11; and the Korean Broadcast Engineers & Technicians Association will participate as joint research and development institutions to secure academic validity and the completeness of ultra-gap AI technology.

■ Combining 34 years of big data expertise with OECD standards and a cutting-edge AI/LLM time-series forecasting engine

As the lead institution, Hanteo Global will oversee the overall KCPI architecture design based on its 34 years of accumulated know-how in linking real-time global POS data dams, AI-based data cleansing, and building MLOps pipelines. Principal investigator CEO KWAK YOUNGHO has proven leadership as a Culture-Tech data architect who has led a total of 47 national R&D and commercialization projects worth KRW 4 billion over the past 20 years.

In this project, Professor KIM TAEKYUNG’s research team at Kyung Hee University will establish a sophisticated national standard indicator system that measures awareness, preference, engagement, and economic/spillover effects from multiple angles by applying the OECD/JRC composite indicator construction guidelines and chain-weighted index standard methodologies from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Europe’s Eurostat. The team will also conduct a global panel survey across 10 countries based on Pew Research Center standards and cohort analysis by generation, including Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X.

Professor LIM DONGHYUK’s research team at Kwangwoon University will oversee the development of AI algorithms that estimate causality and predict future influence in complex global K-Culture data. The Kwangwoon University research team plans to complete a world-class K-Culture big data analysis platform by integrating advanced causality verification through the panel machine learning model “Panel DML (Double Machine Learning),” an XLM-T-based sentiment analysis model specialized for multilingual text, a lightweight time-series forecasting engine, and an LLM-based generative AI framework.

Professor KIM TAEKYUNG of Kyung Hee University’s Department of Big Data Analytics emphasized, “The K-Culture Power Index (KCPI) will become a national standard index equipped with strict statistical and academic validity, including OECD composite index standards,” adding, “We will objectively prove the real spillover effects of K-Culture through integration with official national statistics from institutions such as the Korea Customs Service, the Korea International Trade Association, and the Korea Tourism Organization, as well as analysis of global panel data by generation.”

Professor LIM DONGHYUK of Kwangwoon University’s School of Information Convergence also stated, “By introducing cutting-edge artificial intelligence and time-series models such as Panel DML and XLM-T, we will carry out precise causal estimation of global Hallyu influence and multilingual sentiment forecasting,” adding, “We will implement high-performance AI intelligence that captures changes in K-Culture and its impact in the global market faster and more accurately than anyone else.”

■ Global data intelligence that will lead the leap forward of K-Culture

The K-Culture Power Index (KCPI) is a core policy-demand project designed to provide scientific and data-based grounds for global Hallyu expansion policies.

Through this project, the first phase will complete the indexing of six core industries: music, broadcasting/drama, film, games, webtoons/animation, and publishing/characters. In the second phase, it will expand to three related K-lifestyle industries, including fashion, beauty, and food, completing a big data and AI intelligence system that encompasses K-Culture as a whole.

Hanteo Global CEO KWAK YOUNGHO said, “Being selected as the lead institution for this major national project, which carries the important responsibility of standardizing a national-level culture index, is the result of recognition for Hanteo Global’s data technology and credibility, which it has built through continuous research, development, and advancement from 1993 to the present as Korea’s first music chart.”

He added, “We will secure public value by providing national culture index reports and APIs free of charge to the government and public sectors, and in the private B2B sector, we will take Hanteo Global’s corporate value to the next level through proprietary consulting and dedicated data subscription services.”

joonamana@hanteo.com