Innovation Venture Groups Meeting Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum Urge 'Regulatory Easing for New Industries'

Discussion on Current Issues for the Development of the Innovation Venture Industry
"Need for Deregulation of New Industries and Increased Investment in Early-Stage Startups"

On the 12th, the chairpersons of the Innovation Venture Organizations Council met with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum to discuss current issues for the development of the innovation venture industry. (From left) Kang Sam-kwon, Chairman of the Venture Business Association; Kim Boo-kyum, Prime Minister; Jang Kyung-ho, Chairman of the KOSDAQ Association; Go Young-ha, Chairman of the Korea Angel Investment Association. Photo by Venture Business Association

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Innovative Venture Organizations Council announced on the 12th that it held a meeting with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum at the Seoul Government Complex to discuss current issues for the development of the innovative venture industry.

At the meeting, only a minimal number of attendees were present to prevent infectious diseases, including Kang Sam-kwon, Chairman of the Korea Venture Business Association, Ko Young-ha, Chairman of the Korea Angel Investment Association, and Jang Kyung-ho, Chairman of the KOSDAQ Association.

The attendees conveyed the on-site difficulties faced by innovative venture companies and freely exchanged opinions on institutional improvements and solutions to address these issues.

Kang Sam-kwon, Chairman of the Korea Venture Business Association, stated, “To continue the second venture boom, it is most important to carry on the government’s successful policies such as the regulatory sandbox and abolition of joint guarantees, along with regulatory reforms that can create innovative companies, support for business recovery, and expanded investment in early-stage startups.”

He continued, “There is a need to accelerate regulatory reforms for new industries such as telemedicine. Especially since regulations on new industries are scattered across various ministries and the industry demands unification, a centralized regulatory control tower should be established to enhance corporate convenience and achieve practical regulatory reform effects.” He emphasized, “Furthermore, for many scale-up companies such as unicorns to emerge in Korea, support for the secondary market to secure liquidity and promotion of the startup M&A market are urgently needed.”

Ko Young-ha, Chairman of the Korea Angel Investment Association, said, “If 2,000 technology startups are discovered and nurtured annually, totaling 20,000 by 2030, and among them 1,000 companies grow into unicorns, Korea will become the world’s leading technology startup nation driving the global economy.” He proposed, “Since Germany has already discovered and nurtured 50% of the world’s hidden champions and demonstrated its economic strength, Korea must also shift its policies and economic paradigm to focus on technology startups.”

Additionally, Chairman Ko suggested, “The government and private sector should jointly establish an educational system to enable the birth of unicorn companies and further expand TIPS, the top contributor to revitalizing domestic technology startups.” He added, “In particular, tax reform for angel investments to strengthen the survival of technology startups and nationwide expansion of regional angel investment hubs to resolve regional disparities in technology startups and investments are necessary.”

Jang Kyung-ho, Chairman of the KOSDAQ Association, stated, “With the implementation of the new external audit law increasing the burden on listed small and medium enterprises, applying internal accounting control audits to small and venture companies adds burdens such as system establishment and hiring accounting professionals. Therefore, internal accounting control audits should be exempted for small companies with total assets under 100 billion won.” He also suggested, “Introducing a business loss reserve system to revitalize the KOSDAQ market, expanding tax benefits for stock options, and improving the business succession system are also necessary.”

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