Ministry of Science and ICT Supports Export of Digital Innovation Companies in Silicon Valley, USA

Over 70 Domestic Digital Companies Participate
Discuss Strengthening Collaboration with Google, OpenAI, and Salesforce

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 17th that from the 14th to the 16th, it dispatched the 2nd Public-Private Joint Digital Export Pioneering Team to Silicon Valley, USA, led by Vice Minister Park Yoon-kyu. The team consisted of the government, specialized institutions, and about 70 digital innovation companies to support the overseas expansion of domestic digital innovation companies.

The Ministry of Science and ICT dispatched the export pioneering team in connection with the ‘7th Korea-US ICT Policy Forum,’ held as a follow-up measure to the President’s state visit to the United States in April and the Korea-US-Japan summit in August. The export pioneering team held ‘K-Global@Silicon Valley 2023’ to open export channels for domestic digital companies in Silicon Valley and to expand cooperation with the United States, strengthening collaboration with global companies in the digital sector.

K-Global@Silicon Valley Deputy Minister Park Yoon-kyu is delivering a welcome speech. [Photo by Ministry of Science and ICT]

At ‘K-Global@Silicon Valley,’ held over three days from the 14th to the 16th in Silicon Valley, a foothold for the overseas expansion of Korean digital companies was established, and digital sector cooperation between Korea and the United States was discussed. Digital technology forums (Tech Forum), competitions (K-Day Star), export and exhibition consultations (K-Partnership) were held with domestic companies and local investors, and the Korean innovation group in Silicon Valley jointly hosted K-Night with K-Group.

At the Digital Technology Forum (Tech Forum), focusing on four technology fields?Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Health, Metaverse, and Enterprise Solutions?success stories of domestic companies’ overseas expansion and the latest technology trends of American digital companies were presented.

At the competition (K-Day Star), keynote speeches were delivered by Nam Ho-dong, co-CEO of Altos Ventures, a leading local investment firm in Silicon Valley, and Jung Se-ju, CEO of Noom, a digital healthcare unicorn company. Five domestic digital companies, including outstanding companies from the forum, presented market entry strategies to venture capitalists (VCs). ‘Imprimed,’ which provides AI-based anticancer drug efficacy analysis services, was selected as first place and received the Minister of Science and ICT Award. ‘Cleon,’ which offers digital human AI video production services, was selected as second place and received the President’s Award from the National IT Industry Promotion Agency.

An export and exhibition consultation event (K-Partnership) was held with the participation of over 50 domestic digital companies, showcasing products and services to more than 150 local buyers and investors, and conducting one-on-one business consultations. The annual technology forum event ‘K-Night’ of the local Korean ICT developer and entrepreneur group ‘K-Group’ was held in conjunction to support network building.

The public-private digital export pioneering team visited Google to discuss AI-related topics and met with Markham C. Erickson, Vice President of Government and Public Policy. They reviewed past cooperation, including the joint hosting of ‘AI Week 2023’ in July, and discussed ways to strengthen future partnerships. Specifically, to enhance AI partnerships, they proposed concrete cooperation projects such as regularizing AI Week and academic exchange meetings, initiating joint research in AI, and expanding Korean companies’ participation in the ‘Frontier Model Forum.’

They met with Lane Dilg, Global Government Partnerships Lead at OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT based on large language models (LLM), proposing cooperation projects for AI, AI semiconductors, and digital talent development. Discussions included expanding collaboration with research teams from companies like OpenAI alongside joint research programs with prestigious overseas universities being prepared by the Ministry of Science and ICT. They also announced the official commencement of developing ultra-low-power AI semiconductors, expected to be a core competitive advantage in the era of super-large AI, requesting OpenAI’s interest.

To expand cooperation in digital talent development, related Ministry of Science and ICT policies were introduced, and active participation was requested. Additionally, interest and participation were proposed regarding the Korean government’s efforts to discuss digital international norms and establish and spread a culture of platform self-regulation.

To discuss cloud-related cooperation, they visited Salesforce, a customer relationship management (CRM) solution company. Notably, seven promising Korean software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies participating in ‘Dreamforce 2023’ held in San Francisco also joined the visit. They discussed ways to expand overseas market opportunities for Korean digital companies through Salesforce and its cloud-based business-to-business (B2B) ecosystem.

Prior to the Silicon Valley visit, they visited Fed-Tech, an accelerator supporting startups’ participation in U.S. government projects, to discuss the U.S. procurement ecosystem and ways to expand Korean companies’ entry into the U.S. procurement market. They also visited Palantir Technologies, which builds platforms for defense and intelligence agencies of major countries, discussing the potential for solving social problems using data and the effectiveness of applying AI technology in defense and intelligence sectors.

Vice Minister Park Yoon-kyu of the Ministry of Science and ICT said, “Through the activities of the ‘Public-Private Joint Digital Export Pioneering Team’ in Silicon Valley, a symbol of innovation and challenge, we were able to confirm high interest and investment intentions in our digital innovation companies with excellent technologies in AI, cloud, metaverse, and other digital fields.” He added, “The government will continue to be a strong supporter so that our companies can unite and collaborate with innovators worldwide and freely take on challenges.”