"We Will Listen to the Voices of Startup Companies" ... Daegu City Council Members Visit the Field

The Economic and Environmental Committee of the Daegu Metropolitan Council (Chairman Lee Taeson) visited the Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center on the morning of the 17th, when the extraordinary session was held, to review the operational status of Daegu City's startup support projects.

The committee members' on-site visit was arranged to inspect how Daegu City's startup incubation facilities and support projects, which have gained increased attention since the launch of Samsung Electronics' C-Lab Outside in February, are being carried out, and to hear the voices of startups and aspiring entrepreneurs on the ground.

The Economic and Environmental Committee members of the Daegu Metropolitan Council, who visited the site, received an explanation about the startup support projects from Lee Jae-il, head of the Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center, and then visited the Samsung Electronics C-Lab Outside Daegu Center in the same building, touring the five companies selected for the first time this year to listen to the voices of startup companies.

Daegu City Council's Economic and Environmental Committee members touring the Startup Hub facilities.

Next, they visited the 053 Startup Cafe and Clutch Campus within the center, encouraging young aspiring entrepreneurs directly at the site where networking takes place, and checked how actual prototype production is carried out at the Makerspace, a space for prototype production and testing for venture companies.

The Economic and Environmental Committee members expressed their impressions, saying, "The startup incubation facilities in Daegu City are much better than expected," and "Seeing the well-organized system makes us look forward to the future," while expressing gratitude and encouragement to the related public officials and Samsung Electronics, who have contributed to discovering and nurturing startups and creating local employment through the ongoing C-Lab project.

Lee Taeson, Chairman of the Economic and Environmental Committee (People Power Party, Dalseo District), said, "Seeing the operation status of startup hub facilities and support projects directly on site, I empathize with the need for support and the potential going forward," adding, "I will carefully listen to the voices from the field today and consider the role of the council so that Daegu City can produce startups that represent South Korea."

The C-Lab project is a regional representative startup incubation program operated through cooperation between Daegu City and Samsung Electronics.

Since its inception in 2014, it has focused on quantitatively expanding startups and supporting the growth of promising startups. Starting this year, in addition to the C-Lab Outside Daegu led by Samsung Electronics, Daegu City plans to diversify the discovery and nurturing of promising startups through a separate C-Lab operation.

So far, through 14 sessions of the C-Lab project, 186 promising startups have been selected, achieving investment attraction of 391.3 billion KRW, sales of 691.9 billion KRW, and employment of about 3,000 people.