RoK wants to lure Vietnamese talents in startups

MSS Minister Lee Young. (Photo source: Platum)

Seoul - The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) will launch K-Tech College, a programme that offers training programs in software and provides job placement opportunities with Korean startups to talented students from developing nations, including Vietnam.

This is part of the Beyond Boundaries strategy included in the "Startup Korea”, a comprehensive policy for mid- and long-term support of startups announced by the ministry on August 30.

In the strategy, the MSS will globalise the RoK’s startup ecosystem and improve connectivity between Korean startups and the world.

The Korean government aims to create a startup ecosystem in the RoK that is inclusive and welcomes skilled talents from all over the world to start their businesses.

The immigration system for startups will be reorganised to be more startup-friendly. It will enable foreign entrepreneurs to settle down in the RoK and collaborate with Korean startups more easily.

Apart from Beyond Boundaries, other main strategies of the “Startup Korea” are Solidarity and Regional Startup, Equal Opportunity and Open Innovation.

Minister Lee Young stated that the RoK startup ecosystem has become more active due to past government policies supporting entrepreneurship. However, the current environment requires a new approach that includes digitalisation, AI revolution, and other transformations.

The “Startup Korea” includes policies tailored to assist military personnel, youth, university students, researchers, and serial entrepreneurs in starting their businesses.

Minister Lee stated that several ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Science and ICT, collaborated with the MSS to develop comprehensive measures for the “Startup Korea” with the goal of making the RoK a leading startup nation.

The minister stated that the MSS aims to increase the number of Korean K-Startups in the top 100 unicorns worldwide to five. Currently, only one Korean company is listed in the top 100 unicorns according to CB Insights' company valuation.

Startups ponder moves during fundraising scarcity Difficulties are encircling many tech startups, with capital flows into the field congested and sharply decreasing over the past few months.

Vietnamese fintech startups secure a mere $6.2 million funding in 1H/2023 Vietnam's records experienced a significant decline in fintech funding, with the total amounting to a lower-than-expected $6.2 million in the first half of 2023.

AWS increases approach to early-stage startups with new programme Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, on August 25 launched a new AWS Build programme to increase its approach to early-stage startups.