Growing the self-sufficiency of the Seoul startup ecosystem… Cooperation with 409 startups, partnering with 100 large and mid-sized enterprises

    LOS ANGELES, CA, January 03, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that, as an open innovationmethod that nurtures corporate self-sufficiency, they played the role of coordinator of the startup ecosystem platform, attracting investment of 95.8 billion KRW and led sales growth of 170 billion KRW by connecting 100 large and mid-sized enterprises and startups.

A total of 6,039 startups participated and were evaluated for technological cooperation potential, and 409 startup finalists collaborated on technology, marketing, and investment. It also led to the signing of 186 Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) for startups' innovative technologies with large and mid-sized enterprises and the created 915 new jobs.

Seoul Startup Hub (consigned by Seoul Business Agency), Seoul's representative startup support institution, is promoting open innovation that pursues coexistence between large and mid-sized enterprises and startups. They plan to cooperate with more than 200 large and mid-sized enterprises by 2024.

Large and mid-sized enterprises gained the effect of preoccupying future potential technology partnership opportunities with low investment costs, and startups saved the time and cost of introducing technologies to the market and securing sales channels by utilizing the funds and infrastructure of large and mid-sized enterprises to lay the foundation for growth.

'Open innovation' is evolving the startup ecosystem and diversifying the way companies grow.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has been searching for ways to coexist between startups and large and mid-sized enterprises through open innovation, and has been working with 100 companies, including POSCO and Mercedes-Benz Korea, to discover and match startups with innovative technologies. L'Oreal Korea, the world's No. 1 beauty company, participated as the 101st cooperative enterprise.

*Open innovation is a concept suggested by Professor Henry Chesbrough from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. It is concept of utilizing external resources such as universities․other large and mid-sized enterprises․startups to develop technologies․ ideas․products for corporate innovation.

Examples of major outcomes of open innovation include RAFIQ-OB Beer (Development of OB Beer branding products, Series A investment of 4 billion KRW), Mirroid-LG Display (Attracted investment of 1.3 billion KRW and participated CES 2021 , 2022 consecutive years), 123 Un Deux Trois-KakaoStyle (Entering 'Zigzag' e-commerce platform, creating sales of about 330 million KRW through marketing support) and more. Open innovation is expanding from technology development to cooperation in various fields such as investment, marketing, and distribution.

Studying the 409 matched startups in detail, research and development of products and services to respond to the technological innovation demand of large and mid-sized enterprises (312 startups), securing markets using distribution networks of large and mid-sized enterprises such as online malls and home shopping (37 startups), valuation and investment in startups by large and mid-sized enterprises (22 startups), and networks and marketing cooperation with large and mid-sized enterprises (38 startups).

These achievements show that the startup ecosystem of Seoul is evolving in the direction of nurturing self-sufficiency of companies. The public sector has played a role of direct support by establishing new start-up support facilities and providing support programs, now, 'The Seoul Metropolitan Government' is playing the role of coordinator of the startup ecosystem platform where companies can develop self-sufficiency.

The city is seeking ways to attract the participation of mid-sized enterprises by organizing the 'Seoul Open Innovation Forum' and introducing a verification system to discover excellent startups to expand the participation of large and mid-sized enterprises in each industry.

In addition, global startup networking is created through global startup festivals such as Try Everything, CES, and others, and also expand more than 10 global open innovation bases to create overseas growth bases such as Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (Opened in May 2021), Bengaluru, India (Opened in September 2022).

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that they will hold the '2022 Seoul Open Innovation Performance Presentation' on December 19th (Mon) to share the cooperative results of 'Open Innovation'. This is the first performance presentation in three years since the start of 'Open Innovation'.

This performance presentation will be held with about 80 participants, including Bo-yeon Hwang, deputy mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Economic Policy Office, Suk-ja Lee, head of the Planning and Economy Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Hyun-woo Kim, CEO of SBA, representatives of large mid-sized enterprises and startups, and investors.

2022 Seoul open innovation performance report, opening speech and congratulatory message, presentation of best cases of open innovation by large and mid-sized enterprises, awarding outstanding companies (large and mid-sized enterprises, startups), and commemorative photos will be held in the following order.

In addition, exhibition booths for open innovation-related product will be installed at the site so that products of outstanding partner companies can be experienced and purchased and after the Open Innovation Performance Presentation is over, there will be networking time among members of the 'Seoul Open Innovation Alliance (S.O.A)' at the Seoul Startup Hub Gongdeok Auditorium.

'Seoul Open Innovation Alliance' is a cooperative network that encompasses large and mid-sized enterprises, startups, private accelerators, investors, private and public institutions, with the city of Seoul at the forefront. They shared their vision and had open innovation vision proclamation ceremony at the 'Try Everything 2022', a global startup festival.

Bo-yeon Hwang, deputy mayor of Seoul Metropolitan Government's Economic Policy Office, said, "Open innovation is the direction of Seoul's startup policy that has evolved and diversified to nurture startups. Participating companies can obtain tangible results such as investment, sales, and technology development, and secure excellent technology of companies located in Seoul even in the midst of a severe economic crisis, ultimately creating an opportunity for innovative industries to take off."

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