Aiming for Top 10 in Asia, Three-Year Plan Established
"North Port Pier 1 to Become a Mecca for the Global Startup Hub"
Busan has entered the global top 80 in the "Global Emerging Startup City Rankings" announced by the global startup ecosystem evaluation agency, Startup Genome.
Following its first entry into the top 20 in Asia last year, Busan was included in the newly released top 100 rankings by Startup Genome this year, signaling its potential for global advancement.
Startup Genome is an institution that annually analyzes and ranks the competitiveness of startup ecosystems worldwide. This year, Busan ranked in the global top 80 for the first time in the emerging startup city category, ranking higher than Fukuoka, Japan, which placed in the top 90.
The city believes that recent developments were reflected in this evaluation, including: the planned establishment of the "Busan Technology Startup Investment Institute" (2025); the creation of startup venture funds totaling 2 trillion won, such as the 300 billion won Future Growth Venture Fund (2024) and the 200 billion won Regional Era Venture Fund (2025); and infrastructure expansion projects such as the Global Startup Hub Busan and Green Startup Town.
The city has set a goal to enter the global top 30 startup cities and the top 10 in Asia within the next three years. To achieve this, it has established a three-year development plan for the startup expo "Fly Asia," aiming to elevate the event to the level of the "Davos Forum" for the startup world. The upcoming "Fly Asia 2025," which will be held for two days starting on September 22, will focus on highlighting changes in the startup ecosystem.
The "Global Startup Hub Busan," currently under development at North Port Pier 1, is also being nurtured as a mecca for startups where young people from around the world can gather. In addition, the city is continuing discussions to ensure that the planned establishment of the Busan branch in collaboration with the world’s largest startup accelerator, PLUG AND PLAY, will be reflected in future evaluations. The city expects this partnership to improve scores in the global market entry and ecosystem activity categories, which have been relatively low in previous assessments.
Lee Joonseung, Deputy Mayor for Administrative Affairs of Busan, said, "Since Busan has only recently begun to participate in the global startup ecosystem in earnest, there are still areas that have not been fully evaluated," and added, "We will work closely with evaluation agencies to ensure that Busan’s recent achievements are properly reflected."
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