Ministry of SMEs and Startups: "US Visit Will Lead to Cluster Cooperation and Investment Attraction"

'K-Bio Lab Hub' Benchmarking Boston
Completion by 2025... Establishing Korea-US Cooperation
Announcement of 'Global Innovation Special Zone Plan' Expected

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups discussed cluster innovation plans with local industry-academia-research and hospital cluster experts in Boston at the 'Korea-US Cluster Round Table' held in Boston, USA, on the 28th of last month (local time). [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to further strengthen cooperation in the private sectors of both countries, such as bio clusters and venture investment, following a recent visit to the United States.

On the 3rd, the Ministry stated, "Taking advantage of this U.S. visit commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, we have promoted various projects to help small businesses and startups pioneer the U.S. market and establish local cooperative relationships."

First, on the 28th of last month, discussions on cluster innovation strategies took place at the 'Korea-U.S. Cluster Roundtable' held in Boston.

Boston is home to the world's leading bio and robotics clusters. The close linkage among industry, academia, research institutes, and hospitals, along with the active private professional services market including legal, patent, investment, and consulting services, are cited as key success factors.

The Ministry plans to complete the 'K-Bio Lab Hub' in Songdo, Incheon by 2025, benchmarking the Boston cluster. With a site area of 40,000㎡ and an investment of 270 billion KRW, it aims to help startups in the pharmaceutical and bio sectors rapidly grow into global innovative companies.

This roundtable was organized to analyze Boston's success factors from various expert perspectives and to establish cooperative relationships between Korean and U.S. clusters.

To build a solid cooperation foundation among cluster entities of both countries, agreements were signed between Korea-U.S. startup support organizations, Korean universities such as KAIST, and U.S. hospitals and global companies.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (right) is posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement with Weifang Zhou, President of Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC) at UL Solutions headquarters in Washington D.C., USA, on the 26th of last month (local time).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Alongside the roundtable, an investment attraction consultation meeting was held, where 15 startups participated and conducted IR presentations and one-on-one consultations targeting 38 venture capitalists (VCs), including Adams Street and StepStone, two of the top 10 global VCs.

The Ministry stated, "To ensure substantive investment discussions, we conducted video consultations before departure (first round), pre-event consultations the day before the event (second round), and main consultations on the event day (third round)."

Currently, investment discussions amounting to 84.5 billion KRW are underway, and the Ministry plans to facilitate actual investments and additional funding through follow-up consultations.

In Washington D.C., where the Korea-U.S. summit took place, a memorandum of understanding was signed with UL Solutions regarding the promotion of U.S. demonstration projects for Korean startups in new industries.

UL Solutions, established in 1894, is the first safety standards development and certification organization in the U.S. It issues certifications related to electrical and electronic products, building materials, marine equipment, renewable energy components, and more.

As a follow-up to the visit, the Ministry plans to announce the 'Global Innovation Special Zone Creation Plan' soon.

Cho Joo-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Through this summit, the Korea-U.S. alliance has been built on the cornerstone of a 'value alliance,' with five pillars established: security alliance, industrial alliance, science and technology alliance, cultural alliance, and information alliance."

Vice Minister Cho added, "Based on this, even stronger bilateral cooperation in the SME and startup sectors will be achieved, leading to an export drive and the success of Startup Korea."

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