Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, Visits CES: "Making Gwanak S Valley the Korean Silicon Valley"

Goal to Attract 1,000 Venture Companies by 2026

Park Junhee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu (fifth from the right in the photo), and representatives of companies residing in Gwanak S Valley attending 'CES2024' held in Las Vegas, USA. (Photo by Gwanak-gu Office)

Gwanak-gu, Seoul (Mayor Park Jun-hee) attended the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2024) held in Las Vegas, USA, on the 9th (local time) to promote 'Gwanak S Valley' to the world and announce its future vision.

Last year, Gwanak-gu established the Gwanak S Valley Pavilion within the Seoul Integrated Hall, setting up exhibition booths for eight local companies, and recruited eight companies residing in Gwanak S Valley to participate in CES 2024.

Gwanak S Valley is a key project of the district, gaining attention as it was selected last year as a rapid promotion project for balanced development in the southwestern area of Seoul. In November last year, two companies residing in Gwanak S Valley achieved the great success of winning CES 2024 Innovation Awards.

The district views discovering and attracting excellent companies capable of growing into global unicorn companies (unlisted companies valued at over 1 trillion KRW) as the most important factor for the success of Gwanak S Valley.

Mayor Park Jun-hee attended CES 2024 to encourage companies participating in the Gwanak S Valley Pavilion, toured the Eureka Park where startup exhibition booths are gathered, and grasped future innovation technology trends. The district plans to actively support the global expansion and growth into unicorn companies of Gwanak S Valley resident companies.

On this day, Mayor Park announced the future vision of Gwanak S Valley on the main stage of the CES 2024 Seoul Integrated Pavilion. The vision includes establishing the first specialized support institution for small and medium venture businesses in a local government, attracting 1,000 venture companies by 2026, and creating 6,400 jobs.

During his business trip, Mayor Park plans to meet with the Mayor of Fullerton and the President of the Los Angeles Korean Chamber of Commerce to exchange opinions on corporate overseas market entry and seek continuous cooperation measures.

Meanwhile, since 2018, the district has been implementing various policies to support the growth of local companies, including creating 16 startup infrastructure sites, establishing a 20 billion KRW startup support fund?the first of its kind in a basic local government?providing commercialization funds and technical consulting support for innovative companies, and supporting corporate investment attraction.

As a result of these efforts, Gwanak S Valley resident companies have achieved accomplishments such as winning the 'CES 2022 Best Innovation Award and CES 2024 Innovation Award,' continuous selection for the Seoul Campus Town project, and designation as a venture business promotion district.

Mayor Park said, "Gwanak S Valley is like a startup in the field of the startup ecosystem," and added, "We will actively promote various startup support policies to surely make Gwanak S Valley a Korean-style Silicon Valley."