Gwangju City Council Holds Policy Forum on 'Measures to Revitalize Re-Entrepreneurship'

Councilor Kang Suhoon as Chairperson and Myung Seungeun, CEO of Venturesquare, Keynote Presentation

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] There have been calls to establish a technology exchange in Gwangju that can become an asset for founders and re-entrepreneurs, aiming for Gwangju to lead the paradigm of new industries and new finance.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Council announced on the 21st that it held a policy forum to prepare measures to revitalize re-entrepreneurship in Gwangju.

This forum was organized by the Gwangju Metropolitan Council to devise various policy alternatives for linking re-entrepreneurship with local startups and to explore ways for Gwangju to grow as a city of entrepreneurial revival.

Kang Suhoon, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party of Korea, Seo-gu 1), served as the chair, and Myung Seung-eun, CEO of Venturesquare Co., gave a presentation titled "Policy Ideas for Technology Exchange Linking Re-entrepreneurship and Local Startups."

CEO Myung stated, "In the current era, the necessity of technology and intellectual assets that perish with companies and the technology exchange market is emerging," and argued, "A technology exchange should be established in Gwangju, and institutional measures for operating the technology exchange should secure a grace period through a sandbox within the infrastructure of the smart city that Gwangju is promoting."

The technology exchange was established in 2000 by the government, which aimed at technology transactions to overcome the limitations of internal technology development by introducing external technology, and the Venture Business Association, which aimed at mergers and acquisitions transactions.

However, due to the collapse of the venture bubble in 2009 and the limitations of being a government-funded institution, it was merged with four other institutions in 2009 and reorganized into the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology.

At the policy forum, discussants included Ha Sang-yong, head of the Gwangju Creative Economy Innovation Center; Yang Hyun-bong, senior research fellow at KIET Industrial Research Institute; Choi Byung-hee, head of the K-ICT Startup Mentoring Center; Lim Dal-taek, head of the Corporate Growth Division at Gyeonggi-do Economic Science Promotion Agency; and Park Jeong-hwan, director of the Economic Startup Office of Gwangju Metropolitan City.

They presented ideas and support measures to create a smooth startup ecosystem of "startup-growth-rechallenge," enabling Gwangju to grow into a "city with a high startup success rate" and a "city of entrepreneurial revival."

Council member Kang Suhoon said, "Entrepreneurship is adventurous but dynamic and involves uncertainty, so support policies at the local government level are very necessary," adding, "Through this policy forum, we will strive to institutionally establish startup support policies that make it easier to restart entrepreneurship, making Gwangju the first city nationwide to do so."