The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Korea Small Business Institute said on the 4th that they co-hosted the Innovation Venture Forum, "KOSDAQ sought by all — a capital market where innovative small-but-strong companies and investors grow together," at the Korea Exchange (KRX) conference hall in Yeouido, Seoul.
The forum was organized to explore directions for institutional improvements so the KOSDAQ market, marking its 30th anniversary this year, can leap forward as an innovation platform that supports financing and growth for small and venture companies. About 100 people attended, including small and venture companies, investors, academia, and officials from market-operating institutions.
At the opening ceremony, a video congratulatory message from National Assembly member Kim Won-i was followed by written congratulatory messages from National Policy Committee Chair Yoo Dong-soo and National Assembly member Huh Sung-moo, a congratulatory message from Ministry of SMEs and Startups Small and Medium Enterprise Policy Director Park Yong-soon, and an encouragement message from Korea SMEs & Startups Institute (KOSI) President Cho Joo-hyun.
At the forum, the processes that corporations experience in the KOSDAQ market were divided by stage — "entry and listing preparation → listing maintenance and growth → delisting and market exit" — to diagnose key difficulties and institutional problems and to discuss improvement measures.
Seoul National University law school professor Jung Jun-hyuk delivered a keynote presentation on "ways to vitalize the KOSDAQ market as an innovation market," presenting directions for KOSDAQ's development centered on competition among major global capital markets to attract corporations. Hanyang University professor Kang Hyung-gu added that "while lowering the entry costs and uncertainties of listing for solid small and venture companies, the market's corporate screening function and investor protection must be strengthened together."
Sangmyung University professor Choi Young-geun diagnosed problems arising in the KOSDAQ market's listing maintenance and delisting processes as an "expansion of heterogeneity," in which both solid, innovative companies and financially vulnerable companies increase together, and presented related policy tasks.
In the general discussion, chaired by Seoul National University professor Yoo Byung-joon, participants discussed directions for institutional improvements to the KOSDAQ market, including Economic Policy Head Kim Hee-jung of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, Korea Venture Business Association Secretary-General Lee Jeong-min, KOSDAQ Association Research Policy Group Head Jin Sung-hoon, Hana Asset Management CEO Kim Tae-woo, Korea Venture Capital Association Director Lee Gi-baek, Yonsei University professor Shin Hyun-han, Gachon University professor Jeon Seong-min, and Korea Exchange (KRX) KOSDAQ Market Division Listing Department Head Kang Byung-mo.
An award ceremony for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups Minister's Award was also held. The grand prize for entrepreneurship (technology innovation) went to the manufacturing AI solutions corporation "InterX," and the grand prize for win-win management (franchise) was awarded to the unmanned café "Daylong Café."
Korea Small Business Institute President Park Kyung-min said, "Only when the market properly discovers the value created by innovative companies and the fruits of growth are distributed and spread to investors and the public can it truly become the 'KOSDAQ sought by all,'" adding, "We expect this forum to be the starting point for verifying and concretizing the direction of KOSDAQ's structural transition based on empirical evidence."