Venture Industry: "Regulatory Reform Must Be Accelerated Through This General Election"

Venture Business Association Proposes and Presents Venture Sector General Election Pledges at Innovation Venture Ecosystem Regular Forum on the 6th

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The domestic venture industry emphasized that this year’s 21st National Assembly election (hereinafter referred to as the general election) must lead to accelerated regulatory reform, activation of scale-up, and qualitative growth of venture investment. They also proposed venture sector pledges for the general election. This is noteworthy as it reflects the voices from the field to ensure the smooth operation of the venture ecosystem amid rapidly changing global economic conditions and the government’s policy goal of fostering unicorn companies (unlisted ventures valued at over 1 trillion KRW).

On the 6th, the Korea Venture Business Association (Chairman An Geon-jun) held the 5th Regular Forum on the Innovative Venture Ecosystem at the Kensington Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced "20 policy tasks related to the venture sector for the 21st general election." The association selected five priority tasks and 15 detailed implementation tasks to create a world-class innovative venture ecosystem and realize a leading country in the 4th Industrial Revolution, proposing improvement measures. Chairman An Geon-jun explained, "Ahead of the general election, we aimed to present policy alternatives that invigorate the innovative venture ecosystem amid the rapidly changing global economic environment."

As priority tasks for creating an innovative venture ecosystem, they proposed governance innovation for realizing a venture powerhouse, advancement of local government venture policies, institutional improvements to activate scale-up, creation of an easy re-challenge environment, and recovery and spread of entrepreneurship. Governance innovation was placed at the forefront of the priority tasks, emphasizing regulatory environment improvement. To this end, the venture industry proposed pledges including establishing a control tower for regulatory reform, mandatory regulatory innovation education for public officials, applying artificial intelligence (AI) technology to regulatory impact assessments, and awarding extra points in hiring public officials and public institutions to those who have worked for innovative venture companies for more than three years.

Venture Sector 2020 General Election Pledge Proposals (20 Policy Tasks)

Additionally, detailed implementation tasks included improving the market entry environment for new industries, creating an open innovation environment, fostering technology-based small and strong ventures, promoting the influx of excellent talent, activating private innovation funds and investments, and establishing a Korean-style cooperative ecosystem. In particular, to improve the regulatory environment that blocks market entry for new industries, represented by the 'Tada' controversy, they emphasized the need to review new industry regulations focusing on consumer benefits and promote discussions on development plans. The pledge proposals also included introducing a founder mutual aid system to create an environment where entrepreneurs can try again even after failure, establishing a re-challenge venture training center, and building a re-challenge control tower.

At the forum, major party lawmakers attended and presented their parties’ venture sector pledges, followed by a panel discussion on various policy alternatives to invigorate the innovative venture ecosystem. The panel discussion was moderated by Park Soo-hong, CEO of Bagel Labs, with panelists including Kim Byung-kwan of the Democratic Party, Song Hee-kyung of the Liberty Korea Party, Jung Byung-guk of the New Conservative Party, Park Won-seok, Chair of the Policy Committee of the Justice Party, Han Ki-woon, Secretary-General of the Democratic Peace Party, Han Jeong-hwa, Chair of the Asan Nanum Foundation, and An Geon-jun, Chairman of the Korea Venture Business Association. Chairman An said, "Venture companies will be a breakthrough to overcome our economy’s chronic problems of low growth and polarization," adding, "I hope these policy tasks will be reflected in each party’s general election pledges to accelerate regulatory reform, activate scale-up, lead qualitative growth in venture investment, and serve as an opportunity to lay the foundation for innovative growth of our economy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.