00:00Bonjour, we're back for the final half hour of Breaking Tech
00:03I'm Marjorie Payon and I have the pleasure actually to be on set with our next guest
00:09We're going to dive actually into how the Republic of Korea
00:14has been making innovations happening way faster, better and stronger than anyone else
00:20I'm joined live by the Minister of SMEs and Startup for the Republic of Korea Lee- wisdom
00:27It's a pleasure to welcome you here on Viva Tech News.
00:32I definitely have a quick question,
00:34because, I mean, I was just saying this in the intro.
00:37The Republic of Korea is innovating stronger, faster,
00:42and probably better than any other ecosystems globally.
00:47So you've definitely ranked as one of the most innovative countries
00:51in the entire world.
00:53The ecosystem, yet, has changed a lot over the past decade,
00:57especially because, I mean, you guys have been mingling innovation
01:00with the universities and science labs,
01:04and also, of course, big corporates.
01:07To what extent has this ecosystem changed and developed?
01:15Can you hear me?
01:16Absolutely, I can.
01:17I am very happy to be here as the country of the year,
01:21and Viva Tech.
01:23So, thank you so much for inviting me.
01:25Korean startup ecosystem has dramatically evolved recently,
01:30and thanks to the mutual effort of the government
01:34and the private sector.
01:36Compared to the early 2000,
01:39the amount of venture investment increased by about 10 times,
01:47and while the government grant grew up by about 30 times.
01:55And the Korean is the world-class level,
01:59the startup ecosystem country,
02:04and Seoul ranked the global top 10 ecosystem cities.
02:11So, Korea already is a world-class nation in the startup ecosystem.
02:21Which is definitely something to highlight here.
02:24Now, there have been major K startups or Korean startups
02:30to make it to the global scene.
02:32There's very specific sectors on which they are bringing the most of innovation.
02:39Which are those specific sectors?
02:42These days, we are waiting on such areas like system semiconductor,
02:48and bio, health, and robotics.
02:51The reason why they have made a very great global achievement
02:56and fund attraction and the sales growth and job creation.
03:01So, to promote, there is a trial,
03:05the Korean government started to declare
03:08the deep tech startup initiated.
03:12So, we posted the 1,000 deep tech startups for five years,
03:19and to invest 1.5 billion dollars for them.
03:23which is definitely a huge commitment
03:26to making a Korean startup in deep tech thriving globally.
03:32You're right.
03:33Until now, we are focused on the service.
03:37Then, we are a little echo of the deep tech company.
03:41That recently, as you know, the digital economy
03:44is starting to transformation.
03:46And Korea is a leading country
03:48to make a new digital economy landscape
03:51by the deep tech company.
03:54And deep tech is definitely at the heart of Korean innovation.
03:59Now, I mean, there's definitely a question I would love to ask you.
04:04And, I mean, you know this by heart.
04:07I mean, a lot of different tech sectors are male-dominated.
04:10Not only here in France or Europe,
04:12but definitely also in Korea.
04:14So, what can you do actually to definitely change, you know,
04:19like this image and perspective
04:21and give more opportunities to female entrepreneurs?
04:26I was an entrepreneur because I established
04:29my cybersecurity company 23 years ago.
04:33Because I was a first generation startup entrepreneur in Korea.
04:37and compared to the early 2000s,
04:42lots of things have continuously changed
04:45and the start-up ecosystems became fair
04:49regardless of gender.
04:51In spite of that, we could see and meet easily
04:55some conservatism in the Korean society.
04:59That means we need to specific,
05:03fostering and promoting programs
05:06to support female entrepreneurs.
05:10So, our ministry is running multiple programs.
05:14For example, we are operating 200-plus
05:18female incubating centers, national-wide.
05:22And then we operated a venture fund
05:25solely dedicated to female entrepreneurs.
05:28So, to promote and they can feel the same,
05:33it's like men entrepreneurs,
05:35we continuously support them.
05:38Which is a great thing to know
05:40that you are actually investing in female founders,
05:44but also that you can't actually foster innovation
05:47with taking off 50% of humanity
05:50while creating the stack, right?
05:53Right.
05:53So, as you know, Korea doesn't have enough resources,
06:01natural resources.
06:03So, our economy is built up based on human resources.
06:08Then, in the industry, in the previous era,
06:11our government depends on its immense power.
06:15But now, digital economy, creativeness and kindness
06:20and sympathy to the human, that is very important.
06:23That means, if the Korean government use and attract females' ability,
06:28that means we could get more meaningful economy results.
06:34So, we will continuously support female resources.
06:38Absolutely.
06:38Let's support female founders.
06:40Absolutely.
06:41Thank you so much, Minister Young,
06:43to actually stop by breaking tech.
06:47You are the Minister for SMEs and Startups in the Republic of Korea.
06:52And now, without further ado,
06:54we are going to see what Simon Harding has in store for us.
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