Global Startup Ecosystem Analysis Firm Startup Genome Announces Seoul Ranks 16th, Highest Ever
Seoul Startup Ecosystem Valued at 54 Trillion Won...Highly Rated for Excellent Talent Pipeline and R&D Investment
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul ranked 16th in the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021, published by the U.S.-based global startup ecosystem analysis organization Startup Genome. In particular, Seoul's ecosystem value was estimated to be worth 54 trillion KRW.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 22nd, this evaluation was conducted targeting 280 cities in 100 countries worldwide, and Seoul's startup ecosystem ranking rose four places from 20th last year to 16th, marking the highest evaluation since it was included in the survey in 2017. Seoul was outside the top 30 in 2019 but entered the top 20 last year, thanks to its R&D capabilities, achieving a continuous rise in ranking.
Startup Genome cited Seoul's strengths as an excellent talent pipeline and high R&D investment. In particular, Seoul ranked 4th globally in the "Knowledge Accumulation" category, which evaluates research achievements and patents. Currently, 9 out of 11 domestic unicorn companies are located in Seoul, indicating that Seoul has a rich corporate environment.
Additionally, Startup Genome highly evaluated Seoul's growth potential in the startup ecosystem, noting the city's active startup policies, including the establishment of startup hubs (clusters) throughout Seoul. Since 2009, Seoul has been promoting startup policies in earnest, starting with the "Youth Startup 1000 Project," which selects and nurtures 1,000 young prospective entrepreneurs annually.
Furthermore, the Global Startup Ecosystem Report identified AI & Big Data and Analytics, Life Sciences, and Gaming as the industries showing strength within Seoul's startup ecosystem. Seoul plans to expand specialized startup infrastructure by opening the "BT-IT Convergence Center," a support space for digital healthcare startups, in October this year, and "Seoul Startup Hub M+," a support hub for the "Open Innovation" program fostering win-win and technological collaboration between large and medium-sized enterprises and startups, in November. The city also plans to strengthen connections with university campus towns to promote the spread of innovative talent and research capabilities into startup culture. Moving forward, Seoul aims to enhance urban competitiveness by fostering seven major innovation industry clusters, including Yongsan IT and Yeouido Fintech, as well as three major cultural tourism convergence industry clusters such as Dongdaemun and Jamsil.
Meanwhile, among the six evaluation categories in this global startup ecosystem report, Seoul's startup ecosystem received excellent scores in Knowledge (10 points), Connectedness (9 points), and Performance (6 points), but was rated average (5 points each) in Funding and Market Reach.
To strengthen startup competitiveness, Seoul plans to establish and invest in a policy finance "Scale-up Fund" worth 10 trillion KRW over 10 years, focusing on supporting the advancement of startups' innovative technologies and products. To support the rapid market settlement of promising companies, the city will assist in prototype production, mass production, and R&D to enable startups' ideas to be quickly commercialized. It also plans to expand testbeds for products and services not only in municipal sites but also in district offices and schools.
Meanwhile, the global top five startup ecosystems remain unchanged from previous years: 1st Silicon Valley (USA), joint 2nd New York (USA) and London (UK), 4th Beijing (China), and 5th Boston (USA). Among the global top 20, six Asian cities including Seoul are ranked as follows: Beijing (4th), Shanghai (8th), Tokyo (9th), Singapore (17th), and Shenzhen (19th).
Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of the Economic Policy Office, said, "We have actively promoted our role as a 'startup stepping stone' to discover and nurture promising startups. We aim to foster 40 unicorn companies in Seoul by 2030 and create a startup ecosystem at the global top 5 level. We will build a startup-friendly ecosystem that focuses on essential support for startups, such as policy finance, product commercialization support for rapid market settlement, and expanding networks for global market entry."
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