Minister Han Seong-sook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) said at the COMEUP 2025 Media Day held on the 20th, "From deep-tech innovation that drives everyday change to entrepreneurship, we will showcase at COMEUP 2025 the future that Start - Up are newly writing."
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) held the COMEUP 2025 Media Day at the Seoul Global Startup Center (GSC) on the day. Attendees included Minister Han, Korea Startup Forum Chair Han Sang-woo, and Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) President Yoo Jong-pil.
COMEUP, which began in 2019, is a venue for domestic and international Start - Up stakeholders to gather and communicate, and last year more than 150 overseas Start - Up from 45 countries participated.
This year, under the theme "Time to rewrite the future," it will be held at COEX in Seoul from the 10th to the 12th of next month. It carries the meaning that Start - Up, based on innovative technology and a spirit of challenge, are reshaping the future beyond the boundaries between industries and nations.
Programs will run with detailed themes such as tech, global, and entrepreneurship. Tarek Amin, CEO of the Saudi state-owned artificial intelligence (AI) corporations Humane, and Rebellions CEO Park Seong-hyun will participate as keynote speakers.
Minister Han said, "An entrepreneurial ecosystem is taking shape where innovative talent can boldly take on challenges and become a driver of national growth, and COMEUP is at its center." She added, "This time, we organized programs so that a broad range of founding players can take part and achieve practical cooperation," and "we will actively support Start - Up, investors, and large and mid-sized corporations so that diverse consolidation can be achieved."
This year's COMEUP has prepared programs to enable cooperation with global venture capital (VC) and attract investment. Global VC, corporate venture capital (CVC), and accelerators will also participate to meet promising domestic Start - Up. In the open innovation program, 35 companies, including Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai Motor, and Nvidia, will participate to share collaboration cases with Start - Up.
There will also be opportunities for overseas Start - Up to seek business opportunities with domestic corporations. Korea Startup Forum Director Choi Ji-young said, "At Start - Up events, many just stay at their booths and leave, but this time we structured the program to provide practical business opportunities by consolidating overseas Start - Up and domestic corporations one-on-one."
Special attention was paid to programs for general visitors, including students. To raise interest in and understanding of startups, the event will run the COMEUP Docent Tour, a guided program with experts.
Minister Han said, "I am very much looking forward to the fact that a middle school entrepreneur will go up on the COMEUP stage." She went on, "Like events in Northern Europe, young students will come out and create a new future," and emphasized, "I hope COMEUP becomes a growth opportunity for businesses to scale and go global."
She added, "As the entrepreneurial ecosystem is expanding to the world, another viewing point is to look at what commonalities and differences exist by country in the national pavilions set up at the venue," and noted, "We ask for much interest and participation in COMEUP 2025."