Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Four Science and Technology Institutes, and Local Governments to Foster ‘Top 100 Global Startup Cities’

“Startup City Creation Project Strategy Presentation” Held at Daegu DGIST

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that on May 21, it held the "Startup City Creation Project Strategy Presentation" at the DGIST Convention Hall in Daegu, bringing together local governments, the four major science and technology institutes, and regional startup support organizations.

This event was organized as a follow-up to the "Startup City Creation Project Plan" introduced at the National Startup Era Strategy Meeting held in April. Based on the government's basic plan, participants shared startup city strategies that reflect the unique characteristics and strengths of each region, and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed to establish a close cooperation system between the central government and local governments.

Hansung-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is announcing the support directions for startup cities at the startup city creation project strategy presentation held on the 21st at the DGIST Convention Hall in Dalseong County, Daegu Metropolitan City. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The Startup City Creation Project is an initiative to build a sustainable, region-led startup ecosystem by leveraging the government's startup growth package—including talent development, commercialization, investment, and infrastructure support—and tailoring specialized strategies for the four cities of Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan. In particular, the project is centered around four regional science and technology institutes—KAIST, DGIST, GIST, and UNIST—establishing an integrated governance model in which universities, research institutes, companies, and investment organizations collaborate. The emphasis is on creating a virtuous cycle that spans from nurturing tech talent to supporting startup launch, growth, and settlement. The project's goal is to foster at least five startup cities in the global top 100 startup ecosystem ranking by 2030.

During the presentation, the four local governments unveiled their differentiated startup city strategies based on their respective technological and industrial strengths. Daegu Metropolitan City aims to become a leading "advanced manufacturing AI transformation (AX) city" driven by AI and robotics startups. Leveraging the research capabilities of DGIST and other institutions, Daegu presented a strategy to establish a deep tech testbed focused on robotics and mobility, medical and bio, and AI and software sectors.

Daejeon Metropolitan City, in collaboration with KAIST and government-funded research institutes, announced a strategy to build a deep tech startup ecosystem centered on three key fields: space and defense, artificial intelligence and robotics, and bio. The city also introduced plans to foster a science and technology innovation city to nurture unicorn startups based on innovative technologies.

Gwangju Metropolitan City presented a city model for deep tech technology development and advanced technology demonstration, leveraging the research talent at GIST. The city plans to focus on future mobility, energy, and AI and semiconductor industries. In addition, Gwangju outlined plans to create a metropolitan-area startup ecosystem in conjunction with the energy infrastructure of Korea Energy Engineering University and Korea Electric Power Corporation in neighboring Naju.

Ulsan Metropolitan City announced a global demonstration-oriented startup city strategy centered on manufacturing AI and future mobility, utilizing UNIST and the presence of major local conglomerates in industrial complexes. The city plans to create an open demonstration city specialized for rapid commercialization of startups' innovative technologies in its three major industries: automobiles, shipbuilding, and petrochemicals.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the four local governments signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to ensure the successful implementation of the project. They agreed to mutually cooperate on ▲ discovering and nurturing tech talent centered around the science and technology institutes, ▲ promoting the inflow of outstanding startups into local regions, ▲ supporting startups in technology development, commercialization, and investment, ▲ establishing a sustainable regional startup environment, and ▲ improving settlement conditions to support retention and growth.

Minister Han Sung-sook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, "It is important to move beyond a Seoul-centric startup structure to foster vibrant tech startups in the regions and create a virtuous cycle where companies that grow locally settle back in the region," adding, "Through the Startup City Project, we will build a self-sustaining startup ecosystem that enables regions to create their own growth engines and make Korea a country where it is easy to start a business anywhere."

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