Gangwon Creative Innovation Center Collaborates with Naver to Support Startup, Creative, and Small Business Discovery

From Commercialization to Investment Attraction: Operation of Startup Support Program

[Asia Economy Reporter Ra Young-cheol] Gangwon Province is collaborating with the portal site Naver to support the growth of creators, startups, and small and medium-sized merchants within the province.

According to the Gangwon Creative Innovation Center, a provincial affiliate organization, on the 30th, they will introduce Naver's specialized support program "Project Kkot" and, over the next three years, discover and support local-based entrepreneurs in various fields such as small business owners, young startups, and creators.

To this end, both parties plan to operate programs that enhance mobile business competitiveness and startup support programs linking commercialization to investment attraction by utilizing the Naver platform.

Through the local venture scale-up program "Campus Gangwon" of the Gangwon Innovation Center, follow-up support will be provided to the discovered companies.

Additionally, they will establish a regional fund to promote seed investment in promising companies.

The plan is to create a foundation for revitalizing the investment ecosystem and build a support system that leads from discovery to growth and investment so that potential local companies can grow into innovative enterprises.

To this end, the two parties signed an agreement for project promotion last July.

Meanwhile, the collaboration between the Gangwon Innovation Center and Naver's "Project Kkot" is the second since 2018.

From 2018 for three years, the "Gangwon Project Kkot" was operated to expand mobile sales channels for local businesses, and as of last year, the sales of small and medium-sized merchants nurtured by the Gangwon Center grew by an average of 185% compared to the previous year.

They also conducted various programs to strengthen the capabilities of companies proposing new business models and enable stable commercialization, investing seed money in nine companies within the province.

Han Jong-ho, the center director, said, "We expect great synergy as Naver's infrastructure supporting local small and medium-sized merchants and young startups meets the know-how of the Gangwon Innovation Center, which has fostered an innovative startup ecosystem."

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