[7] He added that in the year 2020, they will realized SMCU as a vision for the future entertainment world, through the new girl group Aespa, and move forward with "new and innovative" ways as they have done so far.
[14] He presented that SMCU is "not just a worldview" that is interpreted as a symbol or a metaphor, but a "new vision and project" to express artists and music through storytelling content that contains "attractive" characters and stories.
[17] On June 23, 2021, SM Entertainment and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a joint metaverse study.
[18] Previously, Lee Soo-man had teamed up with Marvel, Creative Artists Agency, and Intel, among other global companies, to make the culture universe.
[27] On July 1, 2021, the Second WCIF was held in the form of an international seminar involving key figures from five countries including South Korea, the United States, China, Japan, and India.
[28] Under the theme of "Changes in the Music and Entertainment Industry in the Post COVID Era", Lee Soo-man, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's chairman Mark Burnett, who produced famous audition programs The Voice and Survivor, and Teddy Zee, who has more than 30 years of experience in Hollywood, will be delivering their keynote speeches.
[38] Cartoon, Animation, Webtoon, Motion Graphics, Avatar, and Novel (CAWMAN) is a new mixed video genre to portray SM Culture Universe (SMCU).
[40] Gong Mi-na of StarNews noted the project for containing SM Entertainment's "accumulated technology" and "know-how" which is expected to become the new model for K-pop market.
[55] Lee Jae-hoon of Newsis labeled SM's various experiments as building a "cultural empire" and is compared its similarity with Marvel Cinematic Universe which also creates contents with diverse world views with IPs.
[57] Jang Jin-ri from the same news media stated that it remains as SM's attempt to become a "cultural empire" beyond an entertainment company representing Korea.