K-Pop + Startup
Start-ups will attempt the convergence of K-pop and the start-up industry by holding the Silicon-KCON in Silicon Valley of the US this November. The event is a benchmarking of KCON, the world’s largest Korean cultural wave convention held by the CJ Group in New York, LA, Paris, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi this year.
Silicon-KCON will be held by Addesu, a US automobile ad platform company and Bay Area K Group made up of IT workers among others. They will promote cultural exchanges between Korea and the US and support Korean start-ups’ foray into the US market by preparing an event for about 3,000 people in their teens, 20s and 30s at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California on November 19. “We will help start-ups enter the US market by spreading the Korean cultural wave from Silicon Valley,” said Korean-American Jay Lee, CEO of Addesu.
The event will feature dance performances by teams of second-generation Korean-Americans and local people and performances by bands consisting of developers of global IT players such as Facebook, Airbnb, Apple and Google. They will be joined by clubs of De Anza College in Cupertino, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Diablo Valley College (DVC) who will put on performances and talent shows. YouTube will broadcast multi-channel network (MCN) lectures as well.
To top it off, Korean start-ups will be given opportunities to be localized and hold IR events. Booths for such companies will be set up to give them PR opportunities at the exhibition venue. An event will be held to introduce Korean start-ups’ products and ideas supported by the Korea Innovation Center (KIC) in Silicon Valley to those from venture capital firms. The KIC is founded by the Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning for venture start-up foundation, overseas advancement and overseas R&D cooperation at global bases.