Strengthening Win-Win Cooperation with SMEs in Handicrafts and Water Sectors... Providing Startup Support and Testbeds

Park Jaehyun, President of K-water, Holds Consecutive Meetings with Water-related SMEs and Venture Companies
Establishment of a 300 Billion KRW Venture Fund

Jae-Hyun Park, President of Korea Water Resources Corporation (center), is listening to an explanation about a new product under development during a visit to a water industry SME located in Daejeon on the 1st.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sangdon] Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) is strengthening win-win cooperation with small and venture companies possessing promising water-related technologies. K-water plans to support not only technological innovation but also overseas expansion by providing its infrastructure as a testbed for these companies.

According to K-water on the 3rd, President Park Jaehyun recently visited seven small and innovative companies with promising water-related technologies in the Daejeon and Chungcheong regions to inspect their sites and hold meetings with company representatives. The meetings discussed concrete and practical measures to revitalize the water industry ecosystem, including technological innovation, overseas expansion, and utilization of the K-Testbed.

K-water promised to secure momentum to dominate the global water market by sharing its accumulated water management technology and know-how with small and venture companies. Previously, K-water nurtured and supported 611 startup companies, generating approximately 300 billion KRW in sales and about 2,200 jobs, and provided 121 infrastructures as testbeds.

Additionally, to support startups, K-water will establish a 300 billion KRW fund of funds using a 200 billion KRW mother fund in cooperation with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups by 2030. As the first fund this year, K-water plans to create a 130 billion KRW sub-fund by 2023 with local governments in the Chungcheong region to establish a water industry and Chungcheong regional New Deal venture fund.

Moreover, as the first public enterprise designated as a national K-Testbed operating institution, K-water is striving to create an environment where small and medium-sized enterprises in the water sector can scale up and grow into unicorn companies.

President Park said, "Incubation is crucial for revitalizing startups, which are the representative icons of the water industry innovation ecosystem," adding, "We will do our best to serve as a platform so that these companies can grow into unicorn companies and global innovative companies through venture funds and other means."