Entrepreneurship vital to national security amid global tech war

Akiva Tor, Israel's ambassador to Korea, and Anand Kamannavar, the global head of Applied Ventures, delivered keynotes.

Seoul National University President Ryu Hong-lim, third from left, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, sixth from left, KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, fifth from right, JoongAng Media Network CEO and Chairman Hong Seok-hyun, third from right, and National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) Chairman Kim Bok-chul, far right, pose for a photo with representatives from startups that won awards on Wednesday during the 2023 International Symposium on Korea, the Country of Innovation and Start-ups, held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in western Seoul on Wednesday. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]

As the global tech race picks up speed, the JoongAng Media Network, KAIST and Seoul National University (SNU) held an annual startup symposium to shed renewed light on young tech startups.

The 2023 edition of the International Symposium on Korea, the Country of Innovation and Start-ups, which is the second in its year, took place on Wednesday at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in western Seoul. KAIST organized the event. The annual symposium takes place at the end of each year, per an agreement that the three co-hosts signed in 2022.

The two-day event aims to foster entrepreneurship and recognize Korea’s young tech startups with high growth potential, while also providing a venue for networking and in-depth discussions for various stakeholders in the startup and venture scenes.

Seven companies won Korean Innovative Start-up Awards during the symposium, beating more than 100 applicants. Winners include Point2 Technology, S-Graphene, ROEN Surgical, Mathpresso, Asleep, Luxrobo, and Humaster.

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, Minister Lee Jong-ho of Science and ICT, KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, SNU President Ryu Hong-lim, JoongAng Media Network CEO and Chairman Hong Seok-hyun and National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) Chairman Kim Bok-chul attended the event.

JoongAng Media Network CEO and Chairman Hong Seok-hyun speaks during the 2023 International Symposium on Korea, the Country of Innovation and Start-ups, held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in western Seoul on Wednesday. [KIM JONG-HO]

Akiva Tor, Israel’s ambassador to Korea, and Anand Kamannavar, the global head of Applied Ventures, delivered keynote speeches.

Technological sovereignty took center stage at the international symposium.

In opening remarks during the Wednesday event, KAIST President Lee urged Korea to “create opportunities for growth and development by turning advanced scientific technology into businesses in the era of technological hegemony.”

Tech startups will, and should, be a hotbed that spurs Korea’s next big breakthroughs in the face of escalating geopolitical and economic uncertainties, said National Assembly Speaker Kim.

“The Korean economy is facing a grave situation,” said the parliamentary leader, stressing that “I believe that the only answer to both the economic and security challenges lies in advanced scientific technologies.”

Science Minister Lee emphasized the role tech startups play in driving breakthroughs related to issues that humanity faces today, saying that innovative entrepreneurship “is a deciding factor for not only a nation's future and growth potential, but also its survival.”

“Entrepreneurship is the driving force behind innovation in the national economy and the improvement of people's lives, so creating an innovative startup ecosystem is a national task that requires all of us to gather our wisdom and capabilities to overcome the crisis in Korea,” said SNU President Ryu.

JoongAng Media Network Chairman and CEO Hong said that “in the era of war over the technological hegemony, innovative technology-based entrepreneurship itself becomes a country's security bulwark.”

The media group chairman added that some [of the Korean Innovative Start-up awardees] will become the key players in the global market, and others will forge a new pathway for Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor and LG through open innovation.”

In one of two keynote speech sessions, Kamannavar shed light on U.S. venture capital’s constant and even growing presence in Korea, where the company is “doubling down” its investments.

Anand Kamannavar, the global head of Applied Ventures, delivers a keynote speech during the 2023 International Symposium on Korea, the Country of Innovation and Start-ups. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]

“We have invested in over 90 startups in 18 countries, primarily in the United States. But after the United States, the highest number of startups we have invested in is Korea,” said Kamannavar.

Applied Ventures is a venture capital arm of Applied Materials, a San Jose-based semiconductor and display equipment supplier. Its investments focus on deep tech, which includes semiconductors, displays, batteries and life science.

MakinaRocks, a Seoul-based AI startup, is one of the Korean companies that Applied Ventures has invested in, Kamannavar explained.

The company established a $25-million venture fund in collaboration with the Korean government in 2017, and took part in the raising of another $25-million fund last year.

Kamannavar put particular emphasis on semiconductors during his speech,, saying that “we truly believe that the semiconductor industry [is] at the cusp of doubling in the next seven years.”

Akiva Tor, Israel’s ambassador to Korea, delivers a keynote speech during the 2023 International Symposium on Korea, the Country of Innovation and Start-ups, held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in western Seoul on Wednesday. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]

The Israeli ambassador to Korea highlighted the synergy that the two countries, each located at far ends of the Asian continent, will be able to create in high-impact technologies such as clean tech and autonomous vehicles.

“We should start thinking about a trilateral clean tech alliance between Israel, UAE [United Arab Emirates] and Korea,” suggested Tor.

“What we can do together in a triangle is more than what we can do in straight lines.”

Israel, a country known as the startup nation, draws parallels with Korea in many ways, Tor said. Both are middle-power countries significantly impacted by large neighboring powers with meager natural resources. Tor attributed Israel's advancements in R&D to cultural factors. Young people in the country, for example, are granted great responsibility from an early age, and hierarchies tend to be loose.

Addressing the ongoing war with Hamas, the ambassador said that while the warfare is taking a significant toll on the country, it will not essentially affect growth in the long term.

Seven Korean tech startups, including chip designer Point2 Technology, won awards for their innovative technologies and business models during the symposium.

On Thursday, six tech startups from SNU and KAIST will deliver their pitches, and 12 teams will compete with their business ideas as part of KAIST’s startup-nurturing program.

KAIST, widely acknowledged as a top science and technology university in Korea, is promoting entrepreneurship for both its professors and its students.

KAIST is pursuing a vision of “one startup per one lab,” university President Lee said in a presentation about the institute's startup-fostering program.

In service of that goal, KAIST has taken a number of measures to promote entrepreneurship, including significantly simplifying the administrative process for startup establishment within the university.

The combined amount of cumulative investments that the top 30 KAIST have startups attracted so far has reached 4.2 trillion won ($3.2 billion).

Point2 Technology, which won the award on Wednesday, and Rainbow Robotics are among the companies founded by KAIST graduates.

SNU, Korea’s top university, is also actively encouraging entrepreneurship among its students, its president said. About 30 percent of founders of Korea’s unicorn startups, which are valued more than 1 trillion won, are SNU graduates.

SNU President Ryu called for the need to “establish a governance among research institutes, corporates, and the government with a central focus on the university,” in order to create an innovative startup ecosystem.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]