Ministry of Science and ICT Seeks Global Expansion of Innovative Companies at CES

Park Yoon-kyu, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT (right), is taking a commemorative photo at the meeting. Photo by Ministry of Science and ICT

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] Park Yoon-kyu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, visited the Korean digital small and startup exhibition hall at CES 2023, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, on the 5th (local time) to encourage global activities. He also held a meeting with representatives and officials of this year's CES Innovation Award-winning companies to explore ways to foster digital small and startups and promote global expansion.

On the first day of the event, he visited the Hyundai-Kia Venture Hall, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Hall, and university halls (Seoul National University and Pohang University of Science and Technology). He experienced various innovative products and services exhibited by domestic digital small and startups and universities, including smart cities, mobility, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), confirming their digital competitiveness.

Several small and startups supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT's research and development (R&D) and technology commercialization programs were recognized for their excellent technological capabilities at CES, winning the highest innovation awards and innovation awards, confirming their business achievements.

In the afternoon, time was spent listening to companies that won this year's CES Innovation Awards, such as Dot, Creamo, eMotiv, Healthrian, and P&C Solution, regarding policy suggestions related to fostering digital small and startups and entering the global market, as well as difficulties encountered during project implementation.

The company representatives attending the meeting stated that due to the recent economic crisis, investment conditions for digital small and startups have shrunk, making management difficult. They emphasized the need for active government investment.

In particular, they requested comprehensive support for technology development, commercialization, scale-up, and overseas expansion, as it takes a long time and cost for digital innovation technology-based small and startups to grow into unicorn companies.

Vice Minister Park Yoon-kyu said, "The fact that many Korean companies won the highest innovation awards and innovation awards at CES, a battleground for digital innovation among global companies, is the result of the hard work day and night by the industry, academia, and research sectors in research and industrial fields." He added, "The Ministry of Science and ICT will do its best to pioneer the digital market so that Korean digital small and startups can compete with global companies by swiftly implementing the 'Korea Digital Strategy' announced last September."

Meanwhile, on the afternoon of the 6th, the Ministry of Science and ICT plans to hold a meeting with academic researchers from Seoul National University, Pohang University of Science and Technology, and others who attended CES in Las Vegas, USA, to share major technology trends and insights of CES from the perspective of research and development (R&D).

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