[Exclusive] Cheongwadae Job Secretary Surprises at Venture Forum... "Need to Consider Regulations"

Announcement of 'Venture Boom Discussion' Hosted by Korea SMEs and Startups Agency with Unexpected Attendance
Focus on Venture Job Creation Amid Employment Downturn
Industry: "Overseas Expansion Not Difficult if Regulations Are Eased"
Experts Emphasize Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investment Attraction

Im Seo-jeong, Senior Secretary for Jobs at the Blue House (left), is greeting Kwon Chil-seung, Minister of SMEs and Startups, at the Central Emergency Economic Countermeasures Headquarters meeting held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 10th of last month.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] "Jobs should be led by private companies. In particular, the role of venture companies is important. We will work on regulations and encourage young people to have an entrepreneurial spirit."

Im Seo-jeong, Senior Secretary for Jobs at the Blue House, made a surprise appearance without prior notice at a forum exploring ways to create a "second venture boom." Amid the worst employment crisis since the IMF financial crisis, the Blue House is closely monitoring the venture industry. Venture companies have recently emerged as a new hope for private sector jobs. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic last year, venture investment reached an all-time high (4.3 trillion won), and venture jobs increased by 53,000 compared to the previous year, showing potential. Industry insiders and experts unanimously agreed on the need for government deregulation, fostering entrepreneurial spirit, and efforts to attract overseas investment.

On the 9th, Im attended the forum titled "Evaluation of the Korean Venture Boom Before and After COVID-19 and Future Tasks" held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Having moved from Vice Minister of Employment and Labor to the Blue House Jobs Secretariat in November last year, this was his first field visit related to the venture industry. After attentively listening to the two-hour-long forum, Im told Asia Economy, "Jobs should be led by the private sector," adding, "The role of venture companies is especially important." He said, "The venture industry is a sector that can create many jobs and is practically generating them," and "Looking at the prospects and atmosphere, the potential is sufficient." He added, "We will look into how we can help and also consider regulations," and "We will strive to help young people cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit."

At the forum hosted by the Small and Medium Business Research Institute under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, various voices were raised regarding the development of the venture ecosystem and fostering unicorns (companies valued at 1 trillion won). Professor Kim Yong-jin of Sogang University explained, "The digital transformation and acceleration of the non-face-to-face economy due to the spread of COVID-19, as well as increased exports in the bio and medical sectors, have acted as factors stimulating the vitality of the venture ecosystem." He emphasized, "Policies to increase private capital's initial venture investment are necessary," and "The inflow of overseas talent through global networks and attracting foreign investment capital should also be activated."

On the 9th, participants of the discussion forum titled "Evaluation of the Korean Venture Boom Before and After COVID-19 and Future Tasks," held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul, are taking a commemorative photo. From the left: Byunghak Moon, Head of Division (Korea Venture Investment), Kyungseop Shim, Professor (Dankook University), Youngmin Lee, CEO (Korea Venture Investment), Samkwon Kang, Chairman (Venture Business Association), Sumi Na, Research Fellow (Small and Medium Business Institute), Yongjin Kim, Professor (Sogang University), Junghwa Han, Chairperson (Korean Society for Small and Medium Venture Business Policy), Jongtae Bae, Professor (KAIST), Chunwoo Lee, Professor (University of Seoul), Changseok Song, Professor (Soongsil University), Haewon Kwon, CEO (Paycock), Dongju Lee, Acting Director (Small and Medium Business Institute).

Kwon Hae-won, CEO of fintech startup 'Paycock,' asserted, "The most important thing is regulation." He revealed, "For nearly three years after starting the business, we only did research and development (R&D)," and "Whenever we launched a service, it was illegal, so we just waited for regulations to be lifted." He said that the business path opened through the regulatory sandbox in 2019, allowing foreign capital investment and overseas expansion. Kwon said, "In the process of signing MOUs with overseas buyers, a common request was to 'show that the business model is commercialized in Korea,'" and "The technology of domestic fintech companies is already highly evaluated, so I felt that overseas expansion would not be difficult if regulations were lifted."

Fostering entrepreneurial spirit is another driving force to ignite the second venture boom. Professor Lee Chun-woo of the University of Seoul emphasized, "Entrepreneurial spirit must be the foundation for revitalizing startups and the venture ecosystem." However, there is still a long way to go. According to the '2018 Entrepreneurial Spirit Monitoring Project' released by the Science and Technology Policy Institute, Korea's entrepreneurial spirit index was 28.43, ranking 19th out of 32 countries worldwide. It was similar to Chile (18th, 29.43) and Portugal (19th, 27.68). Switzerland (41.20) ranked first in entrepreneurial spirit, followed by Finland (39.41), the United States (39.29), and the Netherlands (38.61). Professor Kim pointed out, "Most entrepreneurial spirit education targets university (graduate) students, which is insufficient to create an entrepreneur-friendly environment."

Lee Jung-min, Secretary General of the Korea Venture Business Association, suggested, "Technology-intensive venture companies are in a very difficult situation finding personnel," and "Support measures for nurturing experts in artificial intelligence and data fields are needed." According to the '2020 Venture Business Detailed Survey' released by the Korea Venture Business Association, the occupations where venture companies face difficulties in securing personnel were 'Research and Development (72.1%, multiple responses allowed),' followed by production and quality (51.5%), publicity, marketing, and sales (40.8%), and human resources and general affairs (12.6%).

Diversity in the venture ecosystem was also identified as an important factor. Researcher Na Su-mi of the Small and Medium Business Research Institute analyzed, "Korea's unicorn companies are mainly in e-commerce and retail," and "There is a lack of high-value technology companies such as artificial intelligence." Professor Kim advised, "Since 92.8% of founders are male, it is important for women to participate in startups from a diversity perspective," and "A startup boom should occur not only in terms of gender but also across various technological areas and fields. Government policies should also strive to secure diversity in types of startups."

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