The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) and the Korea Institute of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Development (Director Kim Yong-moon) together with the National Assembly startup research and support group ‘Unicorn Farm’ held the ‘CES 21 K-Startup Review’ at the 2nd Small Conference Room of the National Assembly Building on the 2023st (Tuesday). A seminar was held.
Unicorn Farm is a National Assembly startup research and support group launched in November 2022, with a total of 11 members participating, led by Rep. Kang Hoon-sik (Democratic Party of Korea) and Rep. Kim Seong-won (People Power Party) as co-representatives, and is preparing measures to support startup growth. It is being actively operated with the goal of:
At ‘CES 1’, which was held in Las Vegas, USA from January 5 to 8 (local time), the Korea Start-up Agency, Seoul Business Agency, and Seoul Digital Foundation jointly prepared the ‘K-STARTUP’ integrated pavilion to promote domestic innovative companies. 2023 companies participated.
CES, hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), is the world’s largest electronics fair. Global conglomerates and innovative companies participate to showcase future electronic products that combine IT technology and new technologies, demonstrating the latest technology and future industries. You can see the flow at a glance.
At the ‘K-STARTUP Hall’, a separate exhibition space for startups in the CES Eureka Park Hall, many overseas visitors visited the booth and were able to easily meet K-startups in their fields of interest.
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Kang Hoon-sik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who serves as co-representative of the National Assembly startup research group ‘Unicorn Farm’, participated in a review event on the 21st and expressed his thoughts. For reference, Rep. Kang visited the CES in person and observed the activities of K-startups.
Representative Kang Hoon-sik said, “When I was a first-term lawmaker and a member of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, the ‘Tide Ban Act’ was submitted to the National Assembly. “At the time, I maintained the position that startups should be supported, but I could not raise my voice loudly to protect startups while listening to and discussing the voices of taxi drivers on the ground.” I pledged to look into the industry’s problems in earnest. Accordingly, Unicorn Farm was started with young members of the Democratic Party, and has now become a research group jointly held by the ruling and opposition parties,” he explained the background of its creation.
He continued, “In the process, I met Lee Sang-min, CEO of Ubility, a self-driving robot company, two years ago. He can be seen driving autonomously at the National Assembly, and it is said that CEO Lee was 2 years old when he started the business. “What was surprising was that when I went to CES this time, Ubility was participating,” he said. “It was a new feeling to see a 21-year-old young man start a business and take on repeated challenges, and now meet in a space where all startups from around the world are gathered.”
Rep. Kang said, “Nevertheless, many challenges and trials still lie ahead for Representative Lee. From that perspective, I think it is very important to share the achievements and success stories of K-startups here and discuss what to support and what to solve,” he emphasized.
To this end, Rep. Kang proposed the idea of promoting a startup fair. He said, “Let’s promote a large-scale expo around May or June with the theme ‘Startups take over the National Assembly.’ So, I hope that not only the National Assembly members but also all new startups will come together in one place and shake up the National Assembly.” “It will communicate with the wind,” he said.
In addition, “Through these attempts, we pledge to work harder together with Unicorn Farm members to ensure that the National Assembly conducts useful and necessary politics, and that our startups can establish themselves as a new growth engine.” “Once again, I would like to thank everyone who attended today’s review seminar.”
Meanwhile, ‘CES’, the world’s largest IT exhibition, is an exhibition where you can understand the trends of the global home appliance industry at a glance. Hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), it is held every January in Las Vegas, USA. A total of 1 companies participated in this year’s CES, of which Korea ranked second in the world with 3,200 company booths. In addition, among the 598 companies that participated in Eureka Park, a mecca for startups, 2 domestic startups ranked first in the world (1,000 in France and 355 in the United States).