Despite COVID-19... Ministry of SMEs and Startups: "No Disruption in ASEAN Startup Cooperation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 19th that despite the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), it will steadily carry out startup cooperation with the 10 ASEAN countries to implement the 'Korea-ASEAN Startup Partnership.'

This Korea-ASEAN Startup Partnership cooperation is being promoted based on the content reflected in the 'Joint Chair Statement of the Korea-ASEAN Special Summit' held in Busan last November.

To ensure the practical implementation of the Korea-ASEAN Startup Partnership, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, together with the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME), composed of high-ranking officials from each country's ministries, held the '1st Ministry of SMEs and Startups-ACCMSME Policy Dialogue' last November and is currently promoting a total of nine cooperation projects including startup policy cooperation, exchange cooperation, and invitation training for 2020.

In particular, among these cooperation projects, the 'Korea-ASEAN Startup Policy Roadmap' is jointly promoted to foster balanced development of startup ecosystems, which vary greatly in development levels within ASEAN, and to establish a systematic startup cooperation foundation between Korea and ASEAN.

Additionally, as a preliminary task for promoting startup cooperation projects, a comprehensive survey and research on the startup ecosystem, including policy environment, global cooperation, and startup regulatory difficulties in ASEAN startups, will be conducted. The research team will consist of startup policy makers and experts from public and private institutions of each country. To conduct related preliminary research, a kickoff video conference for the Korea-ASEAN Startup Policy Roadmap is scheduled to be held in June this year.

Cooperation projects to be promoted in the second half of this year include the 'Large and Medium-sized Enterprises and Startup Matching Event' (June), 'Ecothon Competition' (September to November), 'Korea-ASEAN Startup Week' (October), and 'Korea-ASEAN Global Venture Capital Conference' (November).

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is also planning to hold the 'Invitation Training Program for Startup-related Officials' (July) and 'K-Ground' (November), a global startup invitation program to experience Korea's startup ecosystem.

Kim Daehee, Director of SME Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "The Korea-ASEAN startup cooperation project is a very important cornerstone for the balanced development of the startup ecosystem in the ASEAN region and for domestic startups to expand globally and grow into unicorn companies. Therefore, despite COVID-19, we will actively strive for startup cooperation going forward."

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