The global startup festival ‘COMEUP 2023’ kicked off at Dongdaemun Design Plaza(DDP) on the 8th. ⓒPlatum
COMEUP 2023(컴업 2023), the largest startup event in Korea, opened its doors at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul on the 8th.
The opening ceremony marked the beginning of COMEUP 2023, which will run for three days from the 8th to the 10th, and showed the changing face of COMEUP, which has become an international event.
The opening ceremony was attended by domestic COMEUP participants such as EUIDONG YU, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, heads of startup-related organisations, and Jiwon Park(Zior Park), CEO of SYNDROMEZ. Also in attendance were several international government organisations and global companies, including Sami bin Ibrahim Al-Hussaini, Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Administration in Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Al-Risi, Deputy Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Administration in Oman, Marc-Antoine Jamet, Chairman of Cosmetic Valley, Olivia Hervy, Chief Executive Officer of Viva Technology Ecosystem, and Howard Wright, Vice President of AWS Startups.
In addition, COMEUP 2023 took COMEUP to the next level as an international event, with large delegations from Saudi Arabia and the UAE in attendance, more than half of the startups coming from abroad (around 60%), and a separate ‘Global Community Zone’ for around 100 international startups.
In her welcome speech, Young Lee, Minister of SMEs and Startups, presented the vision of a “Global Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Network” to the participants from around the world and invited them to create it together.
With the advent of the startup era, there are many startup clusters around the world, such as Silicon Valley in the US and Station F in France, but there is a lack of close interaction between them, so she said she would connect startup clusters around the world with Korea at the centre.
Specifically, the government plans to ease the startup and work visa system to support borderless startups, create a global fund worth $7.7 billion (KRW 10 trillion) by 2024, establish a global startup hub with Korea at the centre to connect with global clusters, and implement a digital network so that startups around the world can exchange and collaborate without physical space limitations.
At COMEUP 2023, which opened on 8 August, Youg Lee, Minister for SMEs and Startups, and delegates from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are visiting startup booths. ⓒPlatum
Meanwhile, this year’s COMEUP 2023 event is expected to attract more than 700 attendees from 35 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, France, Switzerland, Japan and Vietnam, with various programmes including conferences, open Innovation, COMEUP Stars and various side events.
The conference session, Future Talk, is composed of topics for each stage of growth of startups, such as “Do you really want to start a business?” and “Going global, misconceptions and truths”. Starting with Zior Park, one of the most prominent musicians of the first half of the year and founder of the lifestyle platform SYNDROMEZ, 70 speakers will take part in more than 20 topics over three days.
The second day of the event will be dedicated to Open Innovation, with the participation of 20 global companies, including NVIDIA, Dassault Systèmes, Hyundai Motor Company and NAVER CLOUD, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the concept of open innovation by sharing success stories and discovering models of collaboration with start-ups.
The event will also feature the booth and IR pitching stage of Upstars, an innovative startup representative of the industry, selected by an average competition rate of 7.4 to 1. Bizmatching with more than 160 venture capitalists, including domestic and foreign venture capitalists (VCs) and corporate venture capitalists (CVCs), will also be held.
In addition, eight domestic and international startup support organisations, including the Franco-Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), KOICA, GEA and ASEIC, will participate to showcase the startup ecosystems of various countries, and various programmes and side events will be held over the three days. In conjunction with the “K-Global Cluster with COMEUP” event in Seongsu-dong, visitors will have more opportunities to attend thematic seminars and R&D conferences in the cosmetics, bio and technology sectors, such as Cosmetic Valley in France and Shonan I-Park in Japan.
“COMEUP 2023 is a diverse programme that delivers the vibrant voices of startups that are moving the world,” said Jae-wook Park, Chairman of Korea Starup Forum, the organiser of COMEUP. “We hope to provide opportunities for the global startup ecosystem to actively interact and create practical business and networking opportunities.”
“I hope that COMEUP 2023 will become a platform for startups from around the world to share new innovations and future prospects,” said Young Lee, Minister of SMEs and Startups. “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will take the lead in strengthening the role and status of startups around the world.”
On site for the opening ceremony of COMEUP 2023 ⓒPlatum
Jae-Wook Park, Chairman of Korea Startup Forum (CEO of Socar), is giving the opening speech. ⓒPlatum
EUIDONG YU, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, is giving a congratulatory speech. ⓒPlatum
Sami bin Ibrahim Al-Hussaini, Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Administration in Saudi Arabia, is giving a congratulatory speech. ⓒPlatum
Young Lee, Minister of SMEs and startup is giving a welcome speech. ⓒPlatum
Jiwoon Park (Zior Park), CEO of SYNDROMEZ, is delivering the keynote presentation. ⓒPlatum
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