The South Korean National Assembly passed the “Act on Special Measures for the Promotion of Venture Businesses,” allowing unlisted venture companies to issue multiple voting stocks. The legislation, under discussion for over two years, was approved in a plenary session and will be promulgated after a Cabinet meeting’s resolution. When the revised Venture Business Act is implemented, unlisted venture companies will be able to issue multiple voting stocks with up to 10…

“When it comes to innovation Korea is a global leader” – Mark Zuckerburg The above statement comes from a speech Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO delivered recently, and demonstrates a changing tide of thought about Korea. No more the ‘Land of Morning calm’ it once was, Korea is emerging emboldened onto the world stage, ready to prove itself, no matter what. My recent article described Korea’s top accelerators and their efforts in providing…

“We look forward to another success story with startups here in Daejon,” said President Park Geun-hye during a ceremony to launch yet another innovation center in Korea. While government support for Korean startups has been impressive, is it time for the politicians to take a step back? At some point the ecosystem must be allowed to develop of its own volition and startups surviving off the back of government handouts alone must…

Sparklabs fourth batch recently kicked off and I had the chance to speak with one of their most promising startups, OnnuriDMC. OnnuriDMC operates a mobile advertising platform, CrossTarget, that the founders believe has solved a major issue for mobile advertisers; being able to track users in the mobile app environment in real time. Background In the PC environment advertisers are able to easily track user behavior through cookies, but this is generally…

For as much as the last fifteen years Korea has been emerging as one of the front-runners in global tech innovation, but has failed time and time again to capitalize fully on the opportunities. Smartphones, 4G mobile internet, MP3 players, social networks, and mobile payments are just a few examples. Nowadays, the U.S. and China, not Korea, are spearheading the growth of these markets and Korea is at a dangerous position, likely…

The second beGLBOAL in Silicon Valley, September 12th, clearly demonstrated that Korean entrepreneurship has come a long way in the last 12 months. Here we take a look at two of the companies that showcased at the event which again gathered some of Silicon Valley’s top investors and entreperneurs to discuss global entrepreneurship and investing. Ten carefully selected Korean startups also showcased, hopeing to attract the attention of US investors, partners and…

David Lee and Ryan Kwon, founders of a new startup Mobidoo, had hit the career jackpot by securing lucrative roles in Samsung. But chasing a bigger dream, but have now left to start their own company. While stories like this are still rare, they demonstrate a growing number of Koreans who are embracing the ‘Silicon Valley mindset.’  These brave young people are embracing the risk and opportunity presented by entrepreneurship instead of…

Google, on an international mission to rapidly connect with the global startup community, has recently announced that it will open a startup campus in Seoul, Korea next year. This comes at a time when Korean entrepreneurs are beginning to prove that they have what it takes to make an impact, as exemplified by a statement from Google’s Bridgette Beam: “Korean innovators and entrepreneurs are some of the best in Asia, and Korean startups are making headlines around…

A team of Korean Engineers, PhD-level Neuro-scientists and ex-Googlers is taking on one of the most feared brain diseases we face in the modern age. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) kills around 500,000 each year and the cost of care globally is estimated at $220Bn per annum. While this degenerative disease has no cure, YBrain has developed a solution for slowing the affects, with a rate of success believed to be greater than any…

In January in Davos, Switzerland, South Korea’s first female President, Park Geun-Hye pushed forward with a multi-billion “Creative Economy” policy. Although Korea has seen a great rise in GDP and living conditions in the last 50 years, President Park now believes the current economic growth environment in Korea has reached its limit, and just like startups often need to, she has decided to pivot the Korean economy to embrace innovation as a…

기업의 성장은 필연적으로 초기에 가지고 있었던 혁신적 DNA를 퇴색시킨다. 그러나 몇몇 기업은 거대기업으로 성장한 후에도 그 혁신성을 유지하며, 끊임없는 혁신을 통해 더욱 다음 단계로의 혁신을 이어간다. 그와 같은 기업의 대표적 예인 Google의 사례를 통해, 어떻게 하면 우리의 기업 역시 그들과 같이 ‘지속적인 성장’과 ‘끊임없는 혁신’이라는 두 마리 토끼를 잡을 수 있는지를 함께 살펴보고자 기획된 본 시리즈는 지난주에는 “혁신의 토대로서의 기업의 체계(System)”를 다루었다. 본 편에서는 혁신을 위한 두 번째 필수 조건을 살펴본다.  …

Korean researchers have developed a next-generation mobile communication technology that enables devices to directly communicate, long range, without going through a base station. The solution allows direct communication between LTE devices, a world first, and was successfully demonstrated it in the company’s mobile communication lab. ETRI’s technology was highlighted by the international standardization organization, 3GPP, as a stand out new-tech innovation last year and was praised for having a wider communication range…

While many believe that the USA leads the world in innovation, with Silicon Valley as the heart of everything, there are other nations that are making an impact. Bloomberg recently conducted a survey of 215 countries to determine their ‘Innovation Quotient’ and ranked South Korea as number 1 in the world for 2013. South Korea has achieved phenomenal economic growth over the last four decades, and is now is a position globally…

beSUCCESS, Korean startup media organization, events organizer, and global connector is happy to officially announce that their flagship startup event, beLAUNCH, is back in 2014 in a year that is already heating up to be one of the most promising for Korean, Asian, and Global entrepreneurship. The event will be held May 14 – 15 at the brand new Dongdaemun Design Plaza in the heart of Seoul. In addition, this year there…

President Park Geun-hye urged scientists and information-communication technology (ICT) experts Friday to work harder to develop new technologies and innovate, saying South Korea can’t afford any stalling in such efforts in a fast-moving global economy. “New technologies and industries are now moving forward at a dazzling pace in many parts of the world,” Park said in a speech at a New Year’s meeting with leaders of the science-technology and ICT sectors. “We…

In 2014 The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will a role out a raft of mid-to long-term software projects to bolster a number of domestic strategic industries. This will be achieved by developing 100 key software platforms for SMEs and foster high-quality human resources by organizing various educational programs. While it is certainly a positive step that the government is supporting these key industries, and is dedicated to bolstering innovation in…

Since the election of President Park earlier this year The Korean Government has embarked on an ambitious and expensive crusade to bring innovation to the fore of the Korean economy and to encourage a retreat from the country’s current dependence on a tiny number of huge family run businesses (Chebols), such as Samsung, Hyundai, LG and telecom SK. In order to achieve their ambition the government has been pumping money into the…

Large corporates, particularly Korean large corporates, have often been charged with the slogan that, “big companies don’t innovate”. That’s a statement Marc Shedroff, VP at Samsung’s Open Innovation Center in Silicon Valley, disagrees with. Samsung, which now has a $1Bn R&D operation in the heart of Silicon Valley, is pushing hard to convert new ideas into innovative products in an increasingly tough market (primarily phones & tablets). The company spends over $10…

원문: Innovation teams don’t work. Here’s what does 초창기 스타트업을 위한 VC인 Sigma West 사의 파트너, 그렉 그레치의 기고문입니다. 필자의 회사인 Sigma는 1년에 한 번씩 회사 포트폴리오 기업들의 CEO를 한 자리에 모은다. 여기서 우리는 기술, 비즈니스 모델, 실리콘 벨리, 시장에 대한 최신 트렌드와 함께, 각자의 경험을 공유한다. 매 번 이 행사가 끝날 때마다, 많은 분들이 다른 참가자로부터 좋은 것들을 얻었노라고 이야기한다. 스타트업을 경영한다는 것은 좋은 결정들을 최대한 많이 만들어 내면서, 나쁜 결정은…

역설(Paradox)은, ‘전에 없던 새로운 것’을 뜻하는 “혁신”이라는 단어가 이제 우리 삶에서 가장 익숙한 단어 중 하나가 되어버렸다는 것이다. 그 산업과 규모를 막론하고 각 기업들은 저마다 자신의 Offering이 혁신적인 것임을 주장하기 때문이다. 그리고 실제로 혁신적인 제품들이 오늘날 우리의 삶을 과거에 비해 훨씬 더 다채로운 것으로 만들어 주고 있기도 하다. 그러나 소비자로서의 우리가 그들 모두의 주장에 동의하지는 않음 역시 사실이다.