The 16th Invest Korea Week (IKW) 2020 was successfully held virtually this year from November 11th to 13th, 2020. The IKW is the largest promotional event for international investments in Korea and has been held annually since 2006. This year because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the IKW 2020 was held virtually for global investors, startups, companies, agencies, and media. The event was broadcast online on ArirangTV, IKW Website, and YouTube.
Showcasing South Korea’s resilient economy
IKW informs foreign investors about Korea’s attractive investment environment and introduces success strategies for investing in South Korea along with promising investment opportunities. IKW is hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy(MOTIE) and organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotions Agency (KOTRA). In 2019, over 3,000 attendees, including foreign investors, foreign and local press, executives of Korea companies, Korean startup founders, local government officials, free economic zone authorities, and other related organizations’ representatives, participated in the event.
This year, the virtual event focused on Korea’s nine promising industries and its thriving startup ecosystem. “Through IKW 2020, we want to showcase Korea as a great place to do business,” said Pyung-oh Kwon, President & CEO of KOTRA, as he welcomed the global corporate and media world to attend engrossing sessions about industries, investments, and economy. The IKW 2020 introduced nine promising industries of Korea to potential investors, which are Bio/Medical/Pharmaceutical Industry, Private Equity, Cultural Contents, Semiconductor, Future Car, Business Service, ICT, Chemical industry and Robot industry.
In his message to IKW participants, Sung Yun-mo, Minister of trade, industry & energy said, “Despite Covid-19 pandemic and predictions of low economic growth, the IMF has given a positive feedback for Korea’s economic growth. The Korean government is dedicated to balance the prevention measures for the pandemic with economic activities without a shutdown.”
Talks, panel discussion about Post-Covid world
The first session of IKW dealt with the topic of post COVID-19 business Environment and investment strategies. James Zhan, Director of Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD and Jacopo Dettoni, Chief Editor, fDi Magazine, shared their thoughts on the topic about change in Global Investment Environment and Investment Strategies in Post COVID-19.
Shawn Chang, Head of Investment KOREA, talked about how Korea was able to combat the pandemic and balanced economy as he presented the topic ‘Innovation Strengths & Investment Environment. Sung-roh Yoon, Chairman of Presidential Committee on the 4thIndustrial Revolution, talked about ‘Strategy of response for the 4th Industrial Revolution, which included how technology will bring in positive change.
IKW 202 had a panel discussion about what will be the key growth drivers in the era of Post COVID-19 and digital transformation? Hwy-chang Moon, Professor, James Kim, President of AMCHAM, Eric John, President of Boeing Korea, Julain Klaus, Head of Technology Office of BMW Korea, and James Falteisek, President of 3M Korea were present for onsite discussion while William Chen, Vice President of Global Wafers appeared online for it.
The panel discussed the development of science, digital transformation, the problems during the pandemic, its impact on various industries, the solutions to overcome the pandemic, and how companies and startups can make a difference in the post-Covid world. The panel members also talked about how Korea’s advanced infrastructure can help drive more investments to the country.
Special Panel Talk for Korean startup ecosystem
As part of the Invest Korea Week 2020, another panel talk was also held separately focusing on Korean startups. The talk was moderated by Shina Chung, CEO of Kakao Ventures, and attended by Sejung Cho, Startup Project Manager of New Industry Investment Promotion Team at KOTRA Invest Korea, Charles Rim, Founder & General Partner, Access Ventures, John Nahm, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Strong Ventures and Eugene Kim, CEO of Sparkslab. The talk covered variety of subjects about the growing Korean startup ecosystem like key trends in investments, increase in accelerators and venture capitalists, favorable government policies, infrastructure, global expansion for startups.
The IKW 2020 event is available on the KOTRA site for anyone who wants to understand the Korean ecosystem, invest in Korean startups, and expand their business in the country.
Read about up-coming events & past events on koreatechdesk.com,
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