Daegu: 9 Companies, 9 Startups Discuss Collaboration

The Daegu Creative Economy Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as Daegu Center) has prepared an important platform for vitalizing regional open innovation. On the 6th, the ‘Regional Open Innovation Forum and Networking’ event, involving 28 companies and organizations including large enterprises, medium-sized enterprises, public enterprises (demand companies), and startups, was successfully held at Samsung C-Lab Outside on the 2nd floor of the Daegu Center. This event was planned to support the co-growth between demand companies and startups collaborating with regional Creative Economy Innovation Centers, and is part of the public-private partnership open innovation support project overseen by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development. The Daegu Center is the only organizing institution from the provinces participating, leading the collaboration of 9 demand companies and 9 startups respectively, along with 5 other regional centers in Gyeonggi, Gyeongnam, Chungnam, Chungbuk, and Daegu. The event, attended by a total of 52 stakeholders, was divided into two parts: a Part 1 forum and Part 2 networking. In Part 1, five regional centers from Gyeonggi, Gyeongnam, Seoul, Chungnam, and Daegu participated, sharing successful collaboration cases between demand companies and startups, and engaged in practical discussions on policy directions for vitalizing region-centric open innovation. During the Part 2 networking session, Executive Director Lee Sun-mi of Y&Archer presented open innovation trends and future strategies, while three companies – SK ecoplant, Korea Gas Corporation, and Korea Aerospace Industries – shared the current status of their collaboration projects with startups and their future plans. A subsequent panel discussion involved in-depth discussions from the perspective of demand companies on the necessity, pros and cons, challenges, and improvement measures for open innovation. Nam Jae-ryong, CEO of Pattern N, a participating startup, expressed his anticipation, saying, “With the active will of regional centers and demand companies, more collaboration opportunities will be created for local startups.” Han In-guk, CEO of Daegu Center, stated, “Through this event, we confirmed collaboration issues among regional innovation stakeholders,” adding, “We will advance our innovation brokerage activities to lead regional innovation.” The Daegu Center plans to further strengthen its projects based on the improvement opinions derived from this discussion and take the lead in establishing a regional open innovation ecosystem.