WHY EXPLORE SEOUL (KOREA) ?

Mature & Organized Ecosystem

#Startups #Accelerators #Ecosystem

We organise learning expeditions in Seoul, Korea, the country of Samsung and LG, to empower executives to stay ahead in a fast-moving globalised world.

Seoul is producing one unicorn per year.  30,000 startups and over 30 accelerators such as FuturePlay, SparkLabs or N15, punctuate Seoul’s dense metropolis. Top developers are leaving Samsung to found their own companies.  Foreign startups also come to Seoul thanks to the extremely fast mobile broadband making it a great test market.

Funding in South Korea really started to take off in 2014. It reached an all-time high of $1.8 billion in 2015.  These days it has settled down to around $500-$600 million per year. Korea has a large and diverse range of investors, Korea-based funds, corporate VCs, and Silicon Valley VC firms just to name a few.  

Korea also has a record of building up major global companies, like Samsung, LG and Hyundai. So most top startups in Korea have global ambitions.

Seoul also has a growing number of networking events that are connecting entrepreneurs with partners, investors, and more. Startup Weekend,  Startup Alliance (an initiative to support Korean startups and assist their international expansion from the government and business leaders like Naver (Line) and Kakao Daum, the two largest internet giants in Korea) and beLAUNCH.

The Most Innovative Country in the World, driven by the Chaebols

#Mobile Penetration #Credit Card Penetration #E-commerce

Korea was one of the poorest countries in the 1960s yet it has made it to become the world’s 12th largest economy today.  Today, it ranks first in the world in terms of innovation, mostly due to its huge R&D spending by the Chaebols.

Chaebols, the large family-owned business conglomerates, are a large feature of the Korean economic landscape with companies like Samsung, making up 18% of GDP! All Chaebols together (LG, Hyundai, SK…) account for about 85% of GDP, although they employ only 13% of the workforce, according to statistics compiled by Euromonitor in 2016. These companies invest huge amounts of money in R&D, making Korea the 2nd highest ratio of R&D spending to GDP in the world, only beaten by Israël.

Highly Supportive Government

#Networking #Creative Environment

Korean young entrepreneurs are encouraged by the government which wants to create a “creative economy”, one that favors and encourages young entrepreneurship. Currently, no country in the world has more backing per capita from the government than Korea. The government is actively supporting startups to the tune of US$2.5 billion to US$3 billion per year. The government is strongly committed to R&D, plying Chaebols with cheap loans and tax incentives, and to IT infrastructure. Korea was the first country to have more than 100% mobile penetration.

To encourage collaboration and innoation, the government spent US$66 billion to develop Pangyo, a city in the South of Seoul into Korea’s Silicon Valley.  Born2Global reports that Korea’s top 60 start-ups and K-Global 300 start-ups are all located in the Pangyo Start-up Campus.

LET'S DISCUSS YOUR INNOVATION GOALS!

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PARTICIPATE TO OUR NEXT OPEN LEARNING EXPEDITION

5 days immersion
in the innovation ecosystem of Singapore
for corporate executives

Learning Expeditions Accelerators:
From 20 to 22 March

Learning Expeditions Fintech:
From 9 to 12 April

Learning Expeditions Smart Cities:
From 7 to 10 May

Learning Expeditions Silver Economy:
From 4 to 7 June

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING OUR OPEN LEARNING EXPEDITION?

NETWORK OF EXPERTS IN ASIA

We connect you to inspiring innovators who matter for you and are ready to share their experience and best practices – from disruptive startups to innovative corporates, digital experts and vibrant communities.

STRATEGIC FACILITATION

We provide a complete experience with workshops and reflection sessions to share insights, foster new thinking and stimulate new ideas.

CREATIVE FORMATS

We create results-oriented, 100% tailored and out of the box learning formats – from Learning expeditions to transformation workshops, innovation events or advisory boards.

HOW DOES A LEARNING EXPEDITION WORK?

EXPERIENTIAL VISITS & MEETINGS

We test out the latest prototypes and engage in open discussions with innovators to get fresh ideas and learn from their experience

TAILORED PROGRAM

Our innovators are specially curated for you to glean rich insights for your learning objectives

PARTICIPANTS GUIDES & MEETINGS WRAP-UPS

We prepare all meetings with the speakers, provide you with guides for all participants and a wrap-up report of the tour

FACILITATION

We organize workshops and reflection sessions to share insights from the visits, foster new thinking and stimulate new ideas