Kospo Holds 'ComeUp 2022' Advisory Committee Meeting… Park Jae-wook "Proving Brilliant Capabilities to the World"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Korea Startup Forum held its first advisory committee meeting for the planning of 'COMEUP 2022' on the 22nd at Dreamplus in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

The COMEUP event is a startup festival designed to showcase Korea's startup ecosystem to the world and facilitate global exchanges with overseas investors and speakers. It began in 1997 as the 'Venture Startup Expo' and was reorganized into COMEUP in 2019. Since then, it has attracted a cumulative audience of over 130,000 worldwide over three years, gaining attention as a global startup festival.

In particular, COMEUP reached a new turning point in March when Kospo was selected as the private organizer. Until now, COMEUP was operated mainly by an organizing committee composed of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and private experts in a public-private consultative body format. However, starting this year, it has shifted to a private-led and government-assisted system, with Kospo planning and managing the entire event.

At the meeting, the advisory committee discussed the major changes led by Kospo for COMEUP 2022 and future plans.

First, Kospo explained its intention to elevate COMEUP into a global event encompassing the entire startup ecosystem. To this end, it reorganized the organizational structure centered on the startup ecosystem, launched the COMEUP 2022 advisory committee, and decided to pool private sector creative ideas and core competencies from program planning to speaker recruitment.

The COMEUP 2022 advisory committee, consisting of 53 members, is chaired by Park Jae-wook, CEO of Socar. Park, who was elected as the third chairman of Kospo in February, is expected to add momentum to the advisory committee activities as he has earned trust within the startup ecosystem.

Additionally, advisory members include Kim Beom-jun, CEO of Woowa Brothers; Kim Young-duk, CEO of the Bank Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs (D.CAMP); Ryu Jung-hee, CEO of FuturePlay; Mike Kim, Head of Google for Startups Asia Pacific; Ahn Sung-woo, CEO of Zigbang; Lee Jun-pyo, CEO of SoftBank Ventures; Han Sang-yeop, CEO of SoFung Ventures; and Han In-guk, Executive Director at Samsung Electronics, among other startup ecosystem stakeholders and business partners.

They also discussed measures to grow COMEUP into one of the world's top five startup events. Plans include expanding exchanges with overseas startup events, introducing pitching competitions, strengthening acceleration programs, increasing business matching, and diversifying partner participation. Chairman Park said, "COMEUP 2022 will be an event where our startups come together to demonstrate the brilliant capabilities of the domestic startup ecosystem to the world and serve as a venue for global harmony. We will continue to provide unwavering support for the successful hosting of COMEUP."

Meanwhile, COMEUP 2022 will be held for three days from November 9 to 11 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul and via online live streaming.

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