‘People+AI+Companies’ Convergence... Gwangju Startup Festival Opens

‘Siljeung Village’ Draws Attention... ‘AI+Startup’ Exhibition Also Held
Mayor Kang Ki-jung: “Building a Demonstration City with High Startup Success Rate”

Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung is delivering a greeting at the opening ceremony of the Gwangju Startup Festival held at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center on the afternoon of the 28th. The event will take place over two days until the 29th. Photo by Song Bo-hyun

The Gwangju Startup Festival, where people, artificial intelligence (AI), and businesses converge, opened on the 28th.

On the same day, at the opening ceremony of the 'Gwangju Startup Festival' held at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung stated, “Whether it is people or startups, we will build Gwangju as a demonstration city with a high startup success rate,” and added, “We will create a city that attracts people for startups and where they can enjoy and benefit.”

The event, themed 'Demonstration City Gwangju,' featured exhibitions, experiential activities, investment attraction briefings, meetups, and side events following the opening ceremony. On-site, 240 startups, 270 investment firms, and 14 large and medium-sized domestic and international companies participated. A talk concert by Song Gil-young, a well-known big data expert and Vice President of Daumsoft, and a conference discussing the revitalization of the local startup ecosystem were also held.

Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung and attendees are listening to a product explanation from a startup representative. Photo by Song Bo-hyun

This year, a ‘Demonstration Village’ was introduced, allowing visitors to experience 25 demonstration products participating in the startup product demonstration support project. Visitors could directly experience products currently being demonstrated throughout Gwangju and listen to exhibition explanations at the Demonstration Village.

An exhibition themed ‘Artificial Intelligence + Startup’ was also held. Forty-four companies and organizations, including Microsoft, East Security, and Terawave, participated, showcasing AI technologies and convergence industries across more than 80 booths.

A startup CEO, who said they had been waiting for this event for two years, remarked, “I believe this event itself is an opportunity for technology-related new startups to continue challenging themselves,” and added, “Just knowing that such a stage exists gave me the courage to keep going.”

Meanwhile, this year’s Startup Festival moved beyond a one-time event, conducting a total of 14 pre-networking events with domestic and international startup ecosystems since February. To this end, large and medium-sized domestic and international companies such as Hoban Group, Startup Autobahn Korea, IBK Changgong, Samsung C-Lab, Hyosung and BionC Innovator, DH Global, Howon, and Optonics participated.