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_{Products Presented at the Yangtze River Delta International Cultural Industries Expo in Shanghai, China.}

The Korean eSports Association (KeSPA), working towards growing and strengthening the esports foundations, has worked hard for more than a decade to ensure the inclusion of various esports stakeholders to be part of Esports eco-system and seek an opportunity for Esports federation to work together with corporate sectors under government guidance. To achieve their mission, KeSPA has been through multiple rounds of discussion with government agencies and bidding efforts and their tireless efforts finally brought to them a magnificent outcome. In result, they managed to secure a fund of USD $574,000 USD from government - Ministry of Culture, Sports and Culture and Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange – for assisting their local esports companies in successful international market penetration and KeSPA looks forward to playing an important role in this government driven project.

Mr. Cheolhag Kim, the General Secretary of the Korea Esports Association (KeSPA), said “It is particularly meaningful that this project is the very first case of esports federation working with the government to explore and expand new esports business models. I hope the example can further help esports associations in the region to cooperate with various types of industries to flourish the market of both sides. I also hope this would be an exemplary case when esports associations communicate with their governments on how they can collaborate to benefit the industry.”

This ingenious initiative can be referenced by other AESF member associations to create a unique opportunity for their respective esports community. With this kind of move, each respective esports community can become more identifiable and employ one country’s unique identity with their esports scene as a gateway to other relevant industries such as contents, technology, manufacturing, and tourism. Therefore, AESF may encourage members to actively seek such an opportunity that would add value to their respective esports communities. 

DRX, one of the participating companies in the 2020 CAST, said, “It has been our immense pleasure to have an opportunity to develop new products, utilizing esports IP. We have learned about the impact esports has in the global market and we are eager to further promote this model and create common ground between esports and industry in a wider range. We would like to express KeSPA helping us with its insightful advice and international network.”

_{Esport Athlete Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu with DRX}

_{Esport Athlete Hong "Pyosik" Chang-hyeon with DRX} 

The AESF is excited to see the on-going efforts from our member KeSPA in joining national government initiatives to further secure a business opportunity beyond the competition and event sector and help strategically connect esports figures and corporates who deal with esports related products. 

The AESF is also planning to launch a Member Association Assistance Program and Education program in the near future where AESF Member Associations can share their experience and case study each other not only for business development but for education, CSR and so others.