Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Toyota, Sony... Korea-Japan Major Corporations Discuss CVC-Startup Collaboration

Muheop and Japanese Economic Friendship Association 'Open Innovation Summit'
40 Large Corporations and 60 Startups Discuss Investment and Business

Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG, Toyota, Sony, and about 40 major Korean and Japanese corporate venture capital (CVC) firms and startups gathered to discuss investment and business cooperation.

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) announced on the 10th that it jointly hosted the "Korea-Japan Major Corporate CVC-Startup Open Innovation Summit" with the Japan Economic Federation in Tokyo, Japan, on the 8th. From Korea, 20 major companies including LS, Hyundai Motor, GS Group, Samsung Venture Investment, LG Science Park, POSCO Group, CJ Group, and Lotte Ventures, along with 40 startups aiming to enter the Japanese market, participated. From Japan, more than 20 major companies such as Mizuho Group, Mitsubishi Group, Sony, Toyota, Mitsui, Hitachi, and Rakuten, as well as 40 Japanese startups seeking to enter the Korean market, took part.

The event featured presentations on ▲ Korea-Japan major corporate CVC startup global cooperation and investment programs ▲ Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Shibuya Ward overseas startup support programs for entry into Japan ▲ product and technology introductions from six representative Korea-Japan startups and their overseas expansion plans. Networking opportunities between startups and major corporate CVCs were also provided.

Kim Gohyun, Executive Director of the Korea International Trade Association, delivering a greeting at the "Korea-Japan Large Corporation CVC-Startup Open Innovation Summit" jointly hosted by the Trade Association and the Japan Economic Friendship Association in Tokyo, Japan, on the 8th.
[Photo by Korea International Trade Association]

The major corporations welcomed the opportunity for global open innovation collaboration. Hwang Yoon-sung, Executive Director at Hyundai Motor, said, "It is meaningful to have the opportunity to share Hyundai Motor’s long-accumulated global open innovation initiatives through this event," adding, "We were able to discuss various cooperation points with Japanese CVCs and startups by participating in the event." Nobuya Hashizume, Group Head of Shimazu, said, "I hope that cross-border open innovation events like today’s will become more active."

Startups said it was an opportunity to create synergy in various fields such as materials and components. Kim Jung-wook, Vice President of DeepX, said, "The enthusiasm of domestic startups for the Japanese market is high," adding, "We plan to continue business cooperation and communication with Japanese major companies we connected with through this event." Takeshi Osaka, CEO of Activ8, said, "I hope exchanges between Korea-Japan innovative technology-related CVCs and startups will be activated."

KITA plans to increase exchanges with Japan, the world’s second-largest CVC market. KITA started supporting startups in 2019, the first among Korean economic organizations. Kim Go-hyun, Executive Director of KITA, said, "This summit was the first event to discuss business cooperation between major corporate CVCs and startups from Korea and Japan," adding, "The Japanese CVC market ranks second in the world after the U.S. in terms of the number of firms, and as many Korean companies are also establishing CVCs to utilize innovative technologies, we will continuously create opportunities to expand open innovation cooperation between the two countries."

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