Shinhan Financial Group hosted an MOU ceremony along with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Incheon Metropolitan City, and Celltrion. They aim to build an ecosystem for innovative startups through Incheon Startup Park. In addition, Shinhan will create a top-tier, one-stop platform in Korea with an investment fund of $50 million. Therefore, the project aims to explore and foster global and biotech startups through private-public partnerships.
Incheon Startup Park at Tomorrow City in Songdo
The Chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, Yong-Byoung Cho, signed an MOU to create Incheon Startup Park at Tomorrow City in Songdo, Incheon. Therefore, Incheon Startup Park will be a private-public ecosystem cooperative project. The aim will be to create a physical and virtual space to foster startups and run an acceleration program for promising businesses.
Shinhan Financial Group is the main operating party of this initiative. However, they will get support from the Korean government, namely the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Incheon Metropolitan City, as well as in partnership with private companies like Biotech leader, Celltrion.
MOU Ceremony Held Online
The MOU signing and ceremony was held for the first time in the form of an online conference in order to put the emphasis on necessary social distancing. Some of the speakers included SMEs and Startups Minister Young-Sun Park, Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Yong-Byoung Cho, Incheon Mayor Nam-Choon Park, and Celltrion Chairman Jungjin Seo. Furthermore, they discussed the direction of Incheon Startup Park operations and strategies for fostering and supporting startups.
Furthermore, a number of dignitaries representing the Korean startup ecosystem. These dignitaries included TBT CEO Jungwook Lim, COHIVE CEO Ethan Choi, and SendBird CEO John S. Kim. They participated in the event and shared their opinions and visions on how startups can overcome the crisis faced in the post-COVID-19 era.
The Triple-K Project by Shinhan Financial Group
The Triple-K Project consists of three main themes.
- Korea to Cross-Country – The focus will be to create a nationwide innovation growth platform.
- Korea to Global – To help startups in Korea to successfully expand into the global market.
- K-Unicorn Project – To support the virtualization of the Korean economy and realize the corporate social value (CSV) by fostering potential unicorn companies.
Incheon Startup Park is an innovative growth platform established as part of the Triple-K Project. Therefore the park aims to build a universal platform for fostering tech and bio startups in Korea. In addition, they will look to take advantage of the geopolitical position of the city of Incheon.
The Park will enhance its functions as a global hub. It will support startups by expanding their activities to overseas markets and fostering startups in line with the 4th Industrial Revolution technologies such as AI, 5G, IoT, big data, and Bio-health.
Incheon Startup Park – A Global Bio-Specialized Hub
Incheon Startup Park will select more than 80 high-tech startups and provide them various opportunities, such as a global partner network connection. The park will cooperate with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development, and global accelerators in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Furthermore, Shinhan Financial Group will provide a wide range of benefits ranging from free office space and incubation to scale-up programs for companies based in Incheon Startup Park. In addition, Shinhan Financial Group is raising $40 million in investment funds to discover companies with unicorn potential and nurture promising ventures. The Incheon Startup Park will get $10 million from Shinhan Financial Group for operating expenses over the next 4 years.
For startups that can’ physically move into the park, Shinhan Financial Group will introduce a membership system. The system will allow startups with access to information and updates on Shinhan Financial Group’s startup support programs and contents.
The Incheon Startup Park Membership Program
- The membership program will offer:
- variety of information on scale-up programs
- opportunities to participate in global events and demo days
- access to startup data archive for stakeholders including accelerators and investors
“IT companies and platform operators that produce and provide innovative services are the key players to Korea’s future competitiveness. Shinhan Financial Group will provide undivided support, at the group level, to make the Incheon Startup Park a Landmark of Innovation where every startup company, unicorn or not, will want to be part of,” said the Chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, Young-Byoung Cho.
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