‘K-Startups to Broaden Global Collaboration Opportunities’
Minister of SMEs and Startups Oh Young-Ju met with the startup winners of the CES 2034 Innovation Awards on Jan. 18 for a discussion.
The meeting, held at the Seoul Center for Creative Economy & Innovation, aimed to encourage the representatives of the winning ventures and startups and to listen to the voices from the field.
This year at CES, a total of 128 domestic ventures and startups, including additional awardees, won the Innovation Award. This accounts for 35.4% of the total 362 companies awarded. In comparison, only 7 ventures and startups won the award in 2019, marking an over 18-fold increase in five years. Notably, 106 of these startups were less than 7 years old.
In the exhibition categories, 8 out of 33 Best Innovation Awards (24.2%) were swept by domestic ventures and startups. The startups receiving this prestigious award included Midbar, Studio Lab, Top table, One Comm, FlowStudio, Lord System, zkrypto, and Mand.ro.
Minister Oh said, “I am incredibly proud of the significant role played by Korean ventures and startups at CES 2024, showcasing innovative technologies and products. The qualitative and quantitative growth of Korea’s startup ecosystem has indeed raised the stature of Korean startups on the world stage.”
Startup representatives at the meeting urged for the government’s continuous interest and support for the growth and leap of ventures and startups, as well as for their expansion into global markets.
Minister Oh emphasized, “Considering the borderless digital economy and limited domestic market, international expansion for startups is not a choice but a necessity. The Ministry will tailor policies to support startup growth, centered around the Startup Korea Initiative announced last August, taking field opinions into account.”
He added, “We will focus our policy efforts on globalizing our venture and startup ecosystem, including establishing the Startup Korea Fund and easing regulations on Corporate Venture Capital, to foster a private-led venture investment ecosystem.”