Global Entrepreneurship Program
The world's largest entrepreneurship seminar will be held in Korea with the goal of enhancing Korea's status and lay the foundation for the promotion of entrepreneurship based on creativity and innovation by meeting the global trend of entrepreneurship proliferation.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Entrepreneurship (KEF) announced that they would hold the 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) General Assembly (2018 GEM General Assembly) at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul from January 28 to 31. The GEM is a nonprofit international research project that aims to analyze relationships between entrepreneurship and national economic growth. The project launched in 1999. About 70 countries from around the world are participating in the GEM, a joint project between Babson College (USA) and London Business School (UK). The Korea Institute of Business Startup & Development (KISED), the Korean Entrepreneurship Foundation (KEF) and the Korea Institute of Business & Technology (KISED) Entrepreneurship Development have represented the project in South Korea since 2008.
The event to be co-hosted by the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA) and the KEF is expected to draw upward of 1,000 entrepreneurs and experts from around the world including GERA board members and representatives of GEM member countries and will hold various events such as the opening ceremony, keynote speeches, a GEM Board of Directors meeting, GEM Global Report presentations and the Korea Entrepreneurship Conference. The GERA is a global research organization that publishes the annual 'Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)' report and playing the roles of collecting and analyzing GEM data for each country, writing reports and holding general meetings among others.
Special Sessions Arranged for Korean Participants
In particular, the 2018 GEM General Assembly prepared a special session for Korean participants to observe the significance and roles of Korea's economic growth and entrepreneurship and share cases in major developed nations and hold an academic workshop, going beyond announcing the results of measuring the entrepreneurship levels of member countries and a global report.
In detail, professor Han Jung-hwa (Hanyang University and a former head of the Small and Medium Business Administration) will deliver a key-note speech under the theme of ‘Korea's Innovation Growth and Entrepreneurship’ and Keum Ki-hyun (director general of the KEF) will present the 2017/18 GEM Global Report which includes the status and level of entrepreneurship promotion in the opening ceremony on January 29 (Mon).
In the afternoon of the same day, they will study the meanings of Korean economic growth and entrepreneurship with stories of the past, present and future of Korean entrepreneurship through a conference titled 'Entrepreneurship in Korea.
To this end, professor Lee Chung-koo of Seoul National University (former president of Hyundai Motor) will talk about leading entrepreneurs who made a miracle of the Han River in Korea's economic history and the spirit of their age under the theme of ‘Economic Growth and Entrepreneurs in Korea.’
Professor Lee Min-hwa of the KAIST (former CEO of Medison) will introduce the outstanding entrepreneurship of young leaders who have achieved their present success and innovation by connecting to the past in ‘Young Entrepreneurs in Korea –- Venture Start-Ups and Venture Spirit.’
Finally, Han Sang-yeop, CEO of So-Poong will make a presentation on social venture entrepreneurial spirit that takes the lead in and prepares Korea's future under the title ‘The Return of Social Venture Startups -- Balance between Social Value and Economic Value’ that implements sharing and social responsibility in Korean society these days.
In the afternoon of January 30, the 2018 GEM General Assembly will hold a special session on "entrepreneurship education" which will share cases between entrepreneurship educators and researchers at home and abroad under the themes of Entrepreneurship Education Based on GEM Data, Universities’ Programs for the General Public and finally Entrepreneurship Ecosystems at Universities.
In addition, Academic Workshop on Entrepreneurship will be held in the morning of January 28 (Sun) on the eve of the opening ceremony. The workshop which was held as a closed-door session for the purpose of strengthening the research capacity of existing GEM member countries will be held as an open session to help Korean participants and experts to strengthen their research capacity.
Meanwhile, "The GEM meeting in Korea is a good opportunity to see the realities of South Korean and Asian entrepreneurships, including outstanding economic growth and continuous technological innovation,” said professor Mike Herrington at South Africa's Cape Town University and director general of the GERA. “I hope that this GEM meeting will be a good opportunity to present a case of a global entrepreneurship ecosystem that takes a step forward and grows."
An official of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, "Holding the GEM General Assembly, which has a great international impact on entrepreneurship and start-up policies, in South Korea reaffirms the international status of Korean entrepreneurship that led a miracle of the Han River. We will do our utmost to expand entrepreneurial spirit that leads innovation and creativity as well as to draw entrepreneurial policies that will lead the fourth industrial revolution by making full use of the General Assembly in Korea."
Expected Effects of 2018 Annual General Meeting of GEM
The Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation (KEF) expects that the foundation will be able to build a close-knit network for promoting foreign and entrepreneurial spirit by conducting joint studies for GEM report and holding international events with small and medium-sized GERA member countries in the GEM 2018 Annual General Meeting.
In addition, it is expected that the event will not only contribute to building an entrepreneurship ecosystem fit for Korean situations and creating related cultures by studying overseas cases of building advanced entrepreneurship ecosystems, but also elevating the status of Korea in terms of entrepreneurship by catching the ticket to hold the GEM General Meeting with the participation of about 130 participants (expected) from 65 countries in Korea.
Furthermore, along with entrepreneurship education that will become a part of regular curriculums starting in 2018, a catalyst for the nationwide expansion of entrepreneurship is expected to be created.
Observing past host countries, the GEM General Assembly was first held in Mexico with the participation of 70 countries in 2015, in the US with the participation of 60 countries in 2016 and in Malaysia in 2017. The GEM 2017 Annual Meeting ran at Impiana KLCC Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with approximately 110 participants from 66 countries from February 5 (Sun) to 8 (Wed) and the 2016/2017 GEM Global Report with country-by-country GEM study results was announced and shared via the meeting.
A host country is selected by the board of directors (10 countries), who are from currently 10 countries such as USA, Malaysia, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, the Netherlands, Thailand, Israel, Argentina and Croatia.
Korea has become the 11th director nation as Korea was picked as the host country of the 2018 GEM General Meeting and the KEF will represent for it from 2017 to 2019.
The 2018 Annual Meeting of the GEM in Korea is expected to be the world's largest annual international academic gathering where approximately 1,000 private experts from more than 65 member countries will gather for the purpose of promoting global entrepreneurship and announcing and sharing research results. In addition, about 1,000 people, including professors, teachers, researchers, businesspeople and university students, are expected to visit and observe the event.
Detailed information about the 2018 GEM General Assembly can be found on the official website (http://gem2018.event-us.kr).