"From Startup to Growth"...National Assembly, Government, and Industry Join Forces

Holding of the 1st Venture and Startup Growth Forum

The National Assembly, the government, and on-site experts from the venture and startup ecosystem are launching a permanent policy forum that will discuss the next stage of Korea's innovation-driven growth.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that on the 12th it will hold the "1st Venture & Startup Growth Forum" in Seminar Room 1 of the National Assembly, together with Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hankyu, the Korea Venture Business Association, and the Korea Startup Forum. The purpose is to fully activate a policy mechanism that connects the structural challenges faced by ventures and startups in the field to legislative and institutional improvements.

Noh Yongsuk, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (second from the left in the front row), is taking a commemorative photo with attendees at the 1st Venture & Startup Growth Forum held on the 12th at the National Assembly First Seminar Room in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

Until now, the government's venture and startup policies have focused on broadly sowing the seeds of innovation by promoting business creation and spreading a culture of risk-taking. However, there have been persistent concerns that companies which have grown to a certain size face a different kind of growing pain, as they encounter complex barriers in areas such as regulation, labor, investment, and corporate governance.

Starting from this awareness of the problem, the forum aims to expand the policy focus one step further, from "startup support" to "growth partnership," and to explore institutional and policy environments that will allow ventures and startups to grow to the end within Korea. In particular, it is meaningful in that it seeks to link the policy momentum created by the "Comprehensive Plan for Leaping into the Top Four Venture Powerhouses" and the "National Startup Era Strategic Meeting" to tangible support for venture scaling up.

At the forum, sitting lawmakers including the host, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Hankyu, as well as Kim Won-i, Jang Cheolmin, and Kim Donga (all from the Democratic Party), and independent lawmaker Kim Jongmin, took part and clearly expressed their commitment to cooperative support for the growth of ventures and startups.

From the government side, Noh Yongsuk, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, attended and directly listened to the concerns that growth-stage companies are experiencing in the field. From the industry side, participants included Song Byungjun, President of the Korea Venture Business Association, Koo Tae-eon, Vice Chairman of the Korea Startup Forum, and CEOs of major unicorns and growth-stage venture companies. From academia, leading figures from each field such as Choi Byungchul, President of the Korean Society of Venture Startups, Jin Byungchae, President of the Korea Small Business Institute, and Professor Lee Chunu of the Korea Entrepreneurship Society took part extensively.

At this first event, participants shared a blueprint for how the forum will be operated and broadly reviewed the structural problems that growth-stage ventures and startups are facing, in order to build a common understanding for in-depth discussions going forward. First, they analyzed the structural impact that recurring jurisdictional conflicts arising during the emergence of new industries have on the overall ecosystem, including business expansion by innovative companies, as well as investment and employment. They also engaged in comprehensive discussions on the so-called "paradox of scaling up," including the limits to accessing large-scale growth capital, bottlenecks in the exit market such as initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), delays in institutionalization after regulatory sandbox pilot exemptions, and risks related to labor, human resources, and organizational management.

Starting with this first event in February, the forum will be held on a rotating monthly basis for each new industry sector, including AI and data, semiconductors, mobility and robotics, bio and healthcare, and energy and climate tech. Each session will focus intensively on jurisdictional conflicts, regulatory issues, and growth bottlenecks in the relevant industry.

Lawmaker Kim Hankyu stated, "Venture policy must now move beyond 'encouraging challenges' to 'spreading success,'" adding, "Through this forum, I will do my best to build a structure in which voices from the field are actually reflected in legislation and institutions."

First Vice Minister Noh Yongsuk emphasized, "It is important to have policy partnership that reduces the uncertainties ventures and startups face in their growth stage," and added, "We will work closely with the National Assembly to build an institutional foundation that enables ventures and startups to keep growing to the end."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.