Seoul City to Host Global Startup Festival 'Try Everything' from 21st to 23rd

Creating a Foundation for Co-Growth Between Large and Mid-Sized Enterprises and Startups
Seoul Announces Open Innovation Vision... Building a Win-Win and Private-Led Startup Ecosystem with Over 50 Large and Mid-Sized Companies and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is creating an opportunity where domestic and international startup companies, investors, and others gather in one place to conduct matching between companies of mutual interest, hold investment attraction meetings, and explore cooperation such as technology partnerships. A 'Vision Declaration Ceremony' will also be held to become an open innovation platform between large and medium-sized enterprises and startups to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and secure future growth engines.

On the 19th, Seoul announced that it will hold the global startup festival 'Try Everything 2022' from the 21st to the 23rd at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). This festival gathers members of the startup ecosystem, including 120 investment firms (20 from overseas) and more than 1,300 startups (including 30 overseas companies), making it the largest scale since its inception.

This year, as Seoul was selected as one of the global top 10 cities to start a business worldwide, the city plans to share achievements with various startup ecosystem members such as global large corporations, investment institutions, unicorn companies, and media at the 'Try Everything' event, and seek directions for the development of Seoul's startup ecosystem. This year, the goal is to attract 75 billion KRW in investments and have about 60,000 participants, including promising startups, large and medium-sized enterprises, investors, global startup ecosystem experts, and the general public.

On the opening day, the 21st, keynote speaker Sebastien Borget, founder of The Sandbox, will take the stage to share insights on ways to achieve cooperation through the opening of information and technology between companies, cities, and countries. Following this, Tyler Cowen, a world-renowned authority in economics, will deliver a keynote speech on the theme of private autonomy and the role of the public sector.

Following this, the 'Seoul Open Innovation Vision Declaration Ceremony,' where Seoul acts as a platform to create connections, will be held. About 50 domestic and international large and medium-sized enterprises and startup support organizations, including Mercedes-Benz Korea, Continental Group, SKT, and Kyowon Group, will work together to establish a system that lays the foundation for startup growth and helps innovative technologies settle in the market.

Seoul supports building a co-growth ecosystem where large corporations, medium-sized enterprises, small and venture companies, and startups share their strengths and coexist through open innovation that utilizes technologies and ideas from universities, large and medium-sized enterprises, and startups for corporate innovation growth.

This year, Seoul plans to promote open innovation centered around seven facilities: Seoul Startup Hub Gongdeok, Seoul Startup Hub M+, Seoul Startup Hub Seongsu, Seoul Startup Hub Changdong, AI Yangjae Hub, Seoul Bio Hub, and Seoul Fintech Lab, aiming to match 100 large and medium-sized enterprises with 1,000 startups.

To expand the global advancement of domestic startups and revitalize Seoul's startup ecosystem, the festival will be filled with more than 40 programs including competitions, lectures, and seminars. The participants and fields are diverse. Overseas speakers include Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life and strategic advisor at Linden Lab, known as the originator of the metaverse; Maya Rogers, CEO of The Tetris Company, which owns the globally famous puzzle game Tetris brand; and Maria Benhumia, founder of Spain Startup, who will share their know-how and experiences with entrepreneurs.

Prominent domestic entrepreneurs will also participate as mentors. These include Kim Jong-yoon, CEO of Yanolja, a travel and accommodation platform and unicorn company; Jung Se-ju, CEO of Noom, a Korean entrepreneur successful in the U.S.; Lee Seok-yong, former executive at Goldman Sachs; and Choi Si-won, a member of Super Junior and active startup investor, all participating as members of the startup ecosystem.

The fields are also diverse. Various global institutions and domestic and international startup ecosystem experts will participate, including South Summit, a Spanish startup expo; eXtreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world's largest social innovation startup competition; Startup Genome, a global startup ecosystem research organization; and the U.S. Embassy in Korea.

On the last day of the event, the 23rd, the 'Try Everything Awards' ceremony will be held to recognize outstanding startups with excellent technology, including the 'National Startup Audition' (5 market awards) and the 'Korea Challenge' (5 market awards). This year, as the event is held offline for the first time in three years since the COVID-19 pandemic, thorough quarantine measures such as 1-meter social distancing, temperature checks for all attendees, and venue disinfection will be implemented to operate safely from COVID-19.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Seoul's Economic Policy Office, said, "We will build a Seoul-style startup growth ladder to drive mutual growth and development between large and medium-sized enterprises and startups, and create a private-led startup ecosystem through the expansion of open innovation so that Seoul can leap to become a global top 5 economic city by 2030."

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