January 12, Berlin: In cooperation with enpact, the Berlin Senate Department of Economy, Energy and Enterprises, along with the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), we had the honor of hosting the Minister of Justice of South Korea, Mr. Park Beom-Kye and representative of the region Daejeon, often referred to as the “Silicon Valley of Korea.”
Dr. Rainer Seider, Head of Unit at the Berlin Senate and founder of AsiaBerlin welcomed Korean Minister together with Norbert Herrmann who manages startup affairs at Berlin Senate, Maximilian, the founder of Betahaus, and Jan Lachenmayer, Managing Director of enpact.
“As a location for Asian companies and startups, Berlin offers a highly efficient ecosystem with a wide range of settlement programs, contact opportunities with investors as well as marketing and media representatives and, last but not least, direct access to politics and business,” emphasizes Dr. Rainer Seider from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics.
We focused on shedding light on pathways and opportunities for young technology businesses in the German-Korean entrepreneurship ecosystem, and starting the dialogue on sustainable exchange and collaboration. Berlin is a highly efficient startup ecosystem which offers a myriad of opportunities for startups abroad to scale into the European market, while Seoul is an ideal entry to Korea’s digitally advanced market along with China, Japan and growth regions in Southeast Asia.
Aside from the roundtable discussions and an ecosystem overview, the day also included pitches from innovative German and Korean startups: Nota AI, EasyCookAsia, Avocado Communications GmbH, and Industrial Analytics IA GmbH.
We’re excited to build bridges between the two ecosystems and facilitate investment opportunities for startups and founders. We’re grateful to our community partners betahaus for hosting us and taking a leading part in the exchange!
Few young entrepreneurs know the potential of Korea: the gross domestic product alone of 1.63 trillion US dollars in 2020 shows South Korea to be one of the richest and also most modern countries in the world. “Our initiatives in Asia show again that Koreans have a high affinity for new digital offerings and are very open-minded towards young companies. In the future, AsiaBerlin and enpact want to intensify cooperation with this state and thus formulate sustainable offers for startups between Germany and South Korea,” explains Jan Lachenmayer, Managing Director of enpact e.V. and project coordinator of AsiaBerlin.
For this reason, a memorandum of understanding with one of the largest Korean sovereign wealth funds, the Korea Investment Corporation KIC, and AsiaBerlin was already signed in August 2021. This is intended to offer startups and founders new opportunities in the investment sector. The fact is that the government of South Korea wants to invest over one billion dollars in the startup scene and new online services by 2022. Further venture capital is contributed by corporations such as Hyundai, LG, Samsung and the Shinhan Financial Group. Young companies from abroad can also profit from this as soon as they settle in the region around the capital Seoul, around Gwangju or in port cities such as Incheon or Busan. Another competitive advantage is the fact that South Korea, which is located between China and Japan, can tap not only these two global markets but also other growth regions in Southeast Asia – especially with new digital technologies.
Participants:
- Mr. Park Beom-Kye, Minister of Justice of South Korea and delegation representative
- Dr. Rainer Seider, Senate Department for Economy, Energy and Operations
- Norbert Herrmann, Startup Affairs at the Senate Department for Economy, Energy and Operations Berlin (moderation)
- Jan Lachenmayer, Management enpact e.V., Project Coordination AsiaBerlin
- Marten Rauschenberg, CTO, AsiaBerlin and enpact e.V.
- Ms. Vera Philipps, Head of Department East Asia, International Markets, DIHK
- Freya Choi, entrepreneur and AsiaBerlin Ambassador
Start-ups:
- nota, On-device AI (www.nota.ai), Seri Saekyoung, General Manager
- Easy Cook Asia (www.easycookasia.de), Minchul Lee
- CEO Avocado Communications GmbH (https://avocadocom.eu), Doora Lee, CEO
- Industrial Analytics (Richard Büssow), Cofounder and CEO
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