Gyeongnam Province Launches Innovation and Open Network

**Gyeongsangnam-do Launches 'Open Innovation Council'! Major Transformation of Local Industries Predicted Through Win-Win Cooperation Between Large Corporations and Startups** Gyeongsangnam-do has launched the 'Open Innovation Council' to lead local industrial innovation, ushering in a new era of win-win cooperation between large/medium-sized enterprises and startups. The first meeting, held on the 26th at the Gyeongnam Center for Creative Economy & Innovation, gathered 17 key stakeholders, including representatives from Gyeongsangnam-do and the Center, 9 major large/medium-sized enterprises such as Doosan Enerbility, Samsung Heavy Industries, KAI, and Hanwha Ocean, research institutions like Korea Institute of Materials Science and Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, and innovative startup representatives, drawing significant anticipation. **Open Innovation: A Core Strategy for Future Industrial Competitiveness** In a rapidly changing industrial environment, 'open innovation,' where companies actively utilize external ideas and technologies instead of relying solely on internal capabilities, has become an essential element for future competitiveness. Particularly, collaboration with startups is emerging as a key strategy that significantly enhances market responsiveness by enabling flexible technology development, proof-of-concept (PoC), and joint commercialization. This council will serve as a key platform for transplanting such open innovation into Gyeongnam's major industries. The plan is to continuously connect large/medium-sized enterprises with startups in Gyeongnam's core industrial sectors, including nuclear power, aerospace, shipbuilding and marine, defense, and machinery, and to focus on creating tangible outcomes such as market channel support through regular networking and project discovery. **Building on Past Achievements, Expanding Cooperation Scale, and Presenting a Future Roadmap** Last year, Gyeongsangnam-do successfully promoted open innovation between 7 large/medium-sized enterprises and 31 startups, supporting the commercialization of excellent technological items by startups. Building on these achievements, the plan this year is to further solidify the cooperation system by expanding the number of participating large/medium-sized enterprises to 10. Yoo Myung-hyun, Director-General of Gyeongsangnam-do's Industry Bureau, emphasized, "Open collaboration and win-win cooperation are core competencies for future industries, and open innovation can indeed be the answer." He further expressed his ambition, "This council will create a win-win structure, offering growth opportunities for startups and innovation opportunities for large/medium-sized enterprises." Meanwhile, Gyeongsangnam-do plans to promote an 'Open Innovation Meetup' event in conjunction with the Global Startup Festival (GSAT 2025), which will be held from May 28-29 at the Changwon Convention Center, further expanding the scope of the council's activities and increasing tangible collaborative outcomes. Through the launch of this council, innovation and growth across all industries in the Gyeongnam region are anticipated.