Korea Small Business Institute Holds 1st Innovation Venture Forum

Jointly Organized by the Korea Federation of SMEs and the Korea Venture Business Association
Exploring Ways to Secure New Growth Engines

The Korea Small Business Institute announced on May 22 that it held the "1st Innovation Venture Forum."

The forum, held at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, was jointly organized by the Korea Small Business Institute, the Korea Federation of SMEs, and the Korea Venture Business Association under the theme of "Exploring Ways to Revitalize a Dynamic Startup·Venture Ecosystem to Secure New Growth Engines."

Jin Byungchae, President of the Korea Small Business Institute, stated in his opening remarks, "Over the past 30 years, venture companies have achieved growth that has outpaced the national economic growth rate. They have effectively led economic growth during the era of low growth, played a pivotal role in transforming the Korean economic structure from a traditional manufacturing-centered model to a knowledge-intensive industry, and have already surpassed the total employment of the four largest conglomerates in terms of job creation."

He continued, "In order for the Korean economy to take another leap forward, it is necessary to inject new vitality into the venture ecosystem and foster future industries. To achieve this, we must first revise the current stock option system to attract talented individuals into the ecosystem, introduce groundbreaking tax reforms to incentivize private capital to flow into the venture ecosystem, and revise the current venture business M&A system to activate the investment recovery market."

Chu Moongap, Head of the Economic Policy Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said in his congratulatory remarks, "For the sustainable growth of Korea, where the engine of economic growth has stalled, we must shift from an industrial policy centered on a few large corporations to one focused on small and venture businesses."

He added, "Artificial intelligence (AI) services should be utilized in manufacturing, distribution, logistics, and service industries to enhance the productivity of small and venture businesses. In particular, expanding the application of AI to manufacturing is essential to revitalize small manufacturers and maintain Korea's status as a manufacturing powerhouse. It is also urgent to enact the 'Smart Manufacturing Industry Promotion Act' and increase the budget to promote the spread of AI factories."

The forum featured presentations on topics such as: ▲ Working Differently in Startups (Bae Jonghoon, Professor of Business Administration at Seoul National University); ▲ Flip Strategies for the Global Expansion of Korean Startups (Park Sunghyuk, Professor of Social Education at KAIST); ▲ Venture Businesses as New Growth Engines (Jin Byungchae, President of the Korea Small Business Institute and Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at KAIST).

Professor Bae analyzed, "Over the past ten years, the advancement of the startup support system has significantly reduced the risks faced by entrepreneurs at the entry stage. Accordingly, there is a growing need to enhance the competitive foundation of the startup ecosystem. Instead of support policies based on startup survival rates, alternatives include implementing symmetric regulations that support fair competition among ecosystem participants, discovering ideas at the value chain level rather than just at the product level, and establishing shared data centers that include computer computing support services."

Professor Park explained the concept and specific methodologies of the "flip" (relocating headquarters overseas), one of the strategies for startups to expand abroad. He introduced the "deferred flip" method, in which Korean startups can move their headquarters overseas without selling the company, using the latest case of the AI startup ImpactAI.

President Jin presented research findings, stating, "While attracting large corporations to local areas contributes to increasing productivity and providing quality jobs, thereby raising local residents' incomes, it shows limitations in terms of regional economic growth, job creation, and the expansion of the startup ecosystem. In contrast, fostering venture businesses drives regional economic growth, job creation, and technological innovation."

He further emphasized, "For regional innovation zones aimed at balanced growth to succeed, simply designating a zone is not effective. After designation, government-level financial investment, the creation of a region-centered private investment ecosystem, and talent development centered on key local universities must be linked in order for the zone to achieve its original goal of serving as an engine for regional economic growth."

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