The Korea Venture Business Association held the "30th anniversary of Korea's venture" ceremony on the 2nd at the InterContinental Parnas Hotel in Samseong-dong, Seoul.
The ceremony was prepared to thank venture entrepreneurs and officials from related organizations who have led the creation and growth of the venture ecosystem over the past 30 years, and to present an innovation vision for the next 30 years.
The ceremony served as the official closing event of the "2025 1st Venture Week," designated and held for the first time this year, adding meaning as a symbolic occasion to review 30 years of the venture ecosystem and present the direction for the future. About 1,000 people, including member companies, venture entrepreneurs, startups, and related organizations, attended.
In particular, first-generation venture entrepreneurs who are hardware (HW)-centered, manufacturing-based B2B corporations; second- to third-generation ventures that are IT, internet, and mobile-centered B2C corporations; and fourth-generation ventures that are AI, semiconductor, and deep tech-based manufacturing corporations—all generations of founders gathered in one place, creating a scene that connected the past, present, and future of Korea's ventures.
Song Byung-jun, head of the Korea Venture Business Association, said, "In 1995, when even the word 'venture' was unfamiliar, young founders broke through uncertainty with technology and imagination to create new industries," and added, "Venture companies have been the driving force of innovation in Korea and a core pillar of economic growth over the past 30 years, even amid crises."
Song also said, "The next 30 years must be a time to leap beyond the world's four leading venture powerhouses to become the strongest nation, based on future technologies such as AI, deep tech, bio, and space," and emphasized, "AI is a core technology that determines industrial productivity and national competitiveness, and the third venture boom will be the starting point for opening a new AI-based venture era."
Next, honorary chair Lee Min-hwa, the founder and first president of the Korea Venture Business Association, appeared through an AI restoration video to stress that "technology must be warm innovation for humans, and the venture spirit is the DNA of challenge and openness." Lee pointed out that closed structures such as data and regulation have blocked innovation, reiterating the message, "When closed, it stagnates; when open, it leaps." Lee then said, "The growth engine of the next 30 years will come from the challenges of young founders. This era is calling for ventures again."
The ensuing talk show, "A challenge that connects generations," brought founders representing the first through fourth generations of ventures onto one stage as an integrated, cross-generational program. Participants looked back on the era and industrial environment of their respective startups and confirmed that venture entrepreneurship is not the exclusive property of a specific generation but a shared asset built by all of Korea.
At the ceremony, a "30th anniversary venture research report" compiled by more than a dozen academic researchers was also released. The study proposed a vision for a "global K-venture with humanity," along with the seven major achievements of Korea's venture ecosystem and a comparison of innovation ecosystems between Korea and Japan, and the path Korea should take over the next 30 years.
Song said, "The association will continue to support the growth of venture companies and build an ecosystem where young people and future generations can take bold risks," and emphasized, "Let's leap forward into the world's top innovation powerhouse together with venture entrepreneurs of all generations."