Nurturing of Born-global Startups
A Festival of Centers for Creative Economy & Innovation took place in the Seoul Campus of Hanyang University on August 26. There, more than 1,900 persons working for the 17 Centers for Creative Economy & Innovation across South Korea or startups housed in the centers shared their accomplishments and experiences under the theme of Global Success Stories. An awarding ceremony for outstanding startups and signing ceremonies for investment attraction were held there, too.
The first Center for Creative Economy & Innovation in South Korea was set up in Daegu City in September 2014. Since then, a total of 17 Centers for Creative Economy & Innovation have been established in cities and provinces across the country until July last year. Until August 12, 2016, 1,175 startups have recorded an increase in sales revenue of approximately 160.6 billion won and have hired 1,360 persons there.
“The Centers for Creative Economy & Innovation should further accelerate their development based on their infrastructure and quantitative growth achieved so far so that they can ensure more sustainable outcomes,” said South Korean President Park Geun-hye at her congratulatory speech for the festival. She went on to say, “I believe the startups in the centers will be able to make a greater contribution to the regional and national economies by turning their creative ideas into competitive products and services in a timely way.”
She also stressed the importance of the nurturing of born-global startups. These days, an increasing number of South Korean startups are forming partnerships with global startup incubators, venture capitals and the like via the global networks of large corporations associated with respective Centers for Creative Economy & Innovation.