The Russia-Korea online business mission, organized by the Skolkovo Foundation, KORUSTEC, the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency (TIPA), and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), finished up today. The three-day event consisted of a panorama on the Korean information communications technology (ICT) market, pitch sessions from Skolkovo companies, and B2B meetings.
The Korean representatives gave key insights into the innovation ecosystem of the Republic of Korea, trends in ICT, and how the Korean government supports technology innovation for small and medium-sized enterprises. On day two, nine Skolkovo residents - G-Core Labs, QRate, Smart Engines, Ecopsy Technologies, Videointellect, Merusoft, Comnet, SearchInform, and Veda - pitched their solutions to an audience of specialists and representatives of the Korean business community. The solutions focused on IT fields such as drone scanning technology, risk and compliance management, office space management and indoor tracking technology, secure data transfer, etc.
The Republic of Korea, one of Asia’s most advanced countries both technologically and economically, presents numerous opportunities for companies belonging to Skolkovo’s IT cluster. The key trends taking place there in the IT sector are spurred on by the Korean New Deal, which includes a digital new deal and a green new deal, for which the Moon administration has set aside approximately $65 billion; the aim of the digital new deal is to set a foundation for future competitiveness in the fields of AI, Big Data, and 5G. The result is that the country’s ICT industry has been undergoing rapid changes in areas such as regulatory reform, next generation mobility, eco-friendly ICT, next generation smart devices, the implementation of blockchain in non-financial sectors, the spread of labor automation, etc. This represents significant opportunities for Korean and Skolkovo resident companies to ride the tide of the digital new deal and bring their technological expertise to the fore.
Both the Russian and Korean governments have been building ties in recent years to encourage collaboration between their respective business communities, and the online business mission is in part a result of that.
“It’s my pleasure to welcome everyone to the online business mission organized by the Skolkovo Foundation together with our colleagues from South Korea. It is our eighth business mission and the fourth one with our virtual roadshow to Asia. We highly appreciate the involvement and contribution of all our partners and speakers and would like to extend special thanks to our reliable partner, KORUSTEC. I would like to once again thank all the participants for attending our event.” - Victoria Astranina, director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Skolkovo Foundation
Gill Won Suh of KORUSTEC also underscored the importance of building and sustaining ties between Russia and Korea.
“The governmental climate is very supportive of innovation exchange between our two countries, because innovation is very important in creating jobs and that has been a focus for both our countries; especially from the Korean side there has been a big push to make this come true. It is a very good climate for Korean and Russian companies to work together because of the support from the government side.” - Gill Won Suh, the director of KORUSTEC.
Skolkovo companies are working, whether directly or indirectly, in virtually all of the fields that are relevant to the current and coming demands of the Korean market. Given the trends in Korea and the favorable relations between the Russian and Korean governments, it stands to reason that Skolkovo IT companies should find opportunities in one of Asia’s most advanced economies.