The 1st Forum for Creative Fintech and Korean Software Globalization was held on Dec. 15 at the National Assembly Members’ Office Bldg., hosted by the Korea Software Global Research Agency (SGA) and the Korea Fintech Forum and organized by The Electronic Times and The Korea IT Times.
Under the theme ‘Good-quality Startups! Good-quality Jobs!,’ the 1st Forum for Creative Fintech and Korean Software Globalization took place to explore ways for developing the Korean fintech and software industries through an international forum that is commensurate with the government’s creative economy vision.
Shin Hyang-sook, Head of the Korea Software Global Research Agency (SGA), said in her opening speech: “This 1st open forum will serve as an opportunity for people from industry and academia to express their views on the difficulties faced by the finctech industry and startups and engage in comprehensive discussions on ways to enhance the value of businesses through software of the future, fintech development & services and revenue models.”
“Also, we will introduce K-VMS (Korea-Venture Mentoring Service), designed to propose alternatives through discussions, devise a roadmap and help move forward with the roadmap,” Shin added.
Saenuri Party leader Kim Moo-sung said: “Developed countries including the US have realized that there is a limit to job creation by the existing industries. Thus, they are focused on revitalizing startup creation in sectors such as fintech. Therefore, the Korean government will support this kind of timely forum to facilitate various discussions on creative fintech.”
Park So-yeong, chairperson of the Korea Fintech Forum, said: “As the severity of youth unemployment is well described by the term “Hell Joseon,” the existing paradigm of creating jobs, in other words job creation driven by the government or conglomerates, has failed to make a big difference in the job market. We can put Korean software on the global market and create quality jobs in a sustainable manner if we discover and foster innovative fintech venture firms, such as Kakao, one of the winning bidders of online-only bank licenses, 18-year-old payment solution provider PayGate and 360 Korean fintech startups.”
SGA Director Jeong Yong-hwan made a presentation on strategies for globalizing creative Korean-style software. He explained the reason why SGA had adopted venture mentoring service K-VMS and introduced actual cases of discovering creative enterprises through K-VMS. In addition, he touched upon SGA’s foreign market entry projects taking advantage of connections with overseas accelerators and partners.
Executive director Hong Jun-young of the Korea Fintech Forum delivered a presentation on strategies for nurturing Korean fintech startups that can help realize the government’s creative economy vision.
A panel discussion chaired by Lim Jung-wook, managing director at Seoul-based Startup Alliance Center was followed by the presentations.
Kim Hyeong-young, head of the Start-up & Venture Bureau at the Small and Medium Business Administration (SMBA), proposed policy for promoting startups and venture firms while Ahn Chang-yong, head of Creative Convergence Planning Division at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, suggested policy for the creative economy vision and Korean-style startups. Cho In-jae, CEO of startup accelerator ActnerLab, tabled support programs for accelerators in and outside the nation.
Lee Young-dal, professor at Dongguk University and a member of the Korean Society of Business Venturing, called on the government and companies to play their part in promoting the fintech industry and software companies. SGA deputy director Jeon Hwa-seong talked about ways to make improvements to the reality of the Korean software industry; Korea Fintech Forum Head Park So-yeong talked about the current status of the US and British fintech industries and suggested a strategy for globalizing Korean fintech software.
