Providing Opportunity for New Zealand Tech Firms in Korean Market
Governor of Gyeonggi Province Lee Jae-myung and Acting Mayor of Seoul Seo Jung-hyup kicked off the virtual “New Zealand Tech Roadshow in Korea 2020” by providing welcoming remarks to over 40 participants, which included tech companies and non-commercial stakeholders from New Zealand and Korea.
In his comments, Governor Lee highlighted the importance of the roadshow in expanding the strong partnership between Korea and New Zealand, and the immense opportunity and support programs available for setting up business in Gyeonggi Province.
In addition, Acting Mayor Seo stressed the strong foreign direct investment into Korea and the city of Seoul to date and the business-to-business prospects and support for New Zealand firms the capital city has to offer. Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to New Zealand Lee Sang-jin also offered congratulatory remarks wishing for expanded cooperation between the countries in the field of technology.
The New Zealand Tech Roadshow 2020 is an online seminar hosted by the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Korea, known as “The Kiwi Chamber,” and the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul which provides participants a week-long series of virtual events designed to connect innovative New Zealand tech firms with tech-savvy Korean counterparts. The event attracts participants from the respective business communities, tech and trade organizations, universities, alumni associations and governments officials.
To open this year’s event, Tony Garrett, chairman of The Kiwi Chamber, and Philip Turner, New Zealand ambassador to Korea, spoke on the need to raise the engagement of New Zealand technology sector firms in a Korean market which is ripe with opportunity.
“Technology is important to the future growth and success of both countries,” said Ambassador Turner. “It is the fastest growing sector of the New Zealand economy with growth of 10% to NZ$12.1 billion in 2019. Export revenue of NZ$8.7 billion also makes it New Zealand’s third largest export sector, with it on track to become our biggest export industry, worth NZ$16 billion, by 2030.”
“For this year’s event, we hope to build on the enormous success and lessons learnt from our previous New Zealand Tech Roadshow in 2019 and TechWeek 2020 held in June,” said Garrett. “The roadshow is part of the chamber’s ‘Inspire with Innovation’ initiative with a goal to link the outstanding technology networks both countries have to offer.”
To cap off the opening day event, congratulatory remarks were also delivered by Phil Goff, mayor of Auckland; Andrew Turner, deputy mayor of Christchurch and Mitchell Pham, chairperson, NZ Tech. Stephen Blair, trade commissioner, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Korea, provided a Korean market overview to assist Kiwi firms. Andy Foster, mayor of Wellington, will deliver his remarks at the closing session later in the week.
The week-long Tech Roadshow includes online workshops divided by industry sectors (software/games, electronics and mechanical) which will be attended by the relevant New Zealand firms and Korean corporates and non-corporate industry specialists. It will offer a range of one-on-one B2B meetings between organizations from both countries. The final session will include a one-hour online wrap-up event with Q&A session for all participating New Zealand tech firms with local market experts to provide information.
The New Zealand Tech Roadshow 2020 includes 13 key New Zealand Tech firms from a range of sectors and participation from around 30 Korean companies, including Daewoo Engineering, Doosan Group, SSG.com and SK Telecom. It is a collaboration between The Kiwi Chamber and the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul as hosts with support from Gyeonggi Province, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) and North Asia Cape.