Park Young-sun "Global Economy Focuses on Korean Startups"... 'Davos Forum' Letter

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is smiling brightly at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) event, which opened on the 21st (local time) in Davos, Switzerland.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] "The global economy is now focusing on K (Korea) startups."

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated this in a letter at the 50th World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland on the 22nd, adding, "Davos is interested in the scale-up of startups into unicorn companies and wants to share the values of unicorn companies for sustainable growth worldwide."

On the morning of the first day of the Davos Forum, held from the 21st (local time) to the 24th, Minister Park attended the Frontier 2030 meeting discussing ways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies. She introduced a Korean startup called 'York'.

At the meeting, she said, "York is a startup that solves children's education problems in East Africa by utilizing solar charging technology. By fostering startups armed with innovative ideas, we can solve problems humanity faces such as poverty, destitution, and the environment," urging the promotion of startups in various countries.

She also attended a roundtable on manufacturing innovation through data sharing, emphasizing, "If the Manufacturing Data Sharing Regulation (MDRS) spreads to many countries, more SMEs will be able to use high-quality accumulated manufacturing data to significantly improve productivity and reduce defect rates."

During a meeting with the vice presidents of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a global IT company, Minister Park discussed cooperation in manufacturing data and artificial intelligence (AI) fields. She requested active support from global companies for Korean SMEs and startups, as well as market expansion for 'Brand K' products through Amazon.com.

She also met with Børge Brende, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum. Introducing the global startup festival 'ComeUp 2019' held last year, she proposed, "Let's hold a 'Little Davos Forum for Young Startups' in Korea in 2020 with the participation of the World Economic Forum."

Minister Park is visiting Switzerland as a board member of the Advanced Manufacturing and Production (AMP) sector of the Davos Forum. She said, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups aims to use this opportunity to promote a smart Korea through SME manufacturing data centers, smart factories, smart stores, and smart services, contributing as a member to the sustainable growth of our economy."