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Korea’s Startup Ecosystem Comes of Age

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By Alberto Onetti 

Over the past decade, South Korea has emerged as one of the world’s fastest-growing innovation ecosystems. Just 10 years ago, the country had around 200 scaleups — today, that number has grown tenfold to more than 2,100.

What’s behind South Korea’s scaleup boom?

Alberto Onetti, Mind The Bridge

This remarkable growth has been fueled in large part by strong government policies, which not only supported startup creation but also introduced clear KPIs around innovation. The most visible initiative is the Global Unicorn Project, launched in 2019 by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, which introduced structured categories such as “baby unicorns” and “pre-unicorns” as part of a national innovation roadmap.

These efforts have helped position Korea as Asia’s leading startup ecosystem outside of China and India.

According to the Tech Scaleup South Korea 2025 Report — produced by my organization, Mind the Bridge in conjunction with Crunchbase and which you can download here — Korea is on track to overtake Japan in the number of scaleups (2,127 vs. 2,268).

When it comes to capital invested, it has already taken the lead — $76 billion vs. $46 billion — marking Korea as one of the few regional innovation powerhouses.

Korea vs Main APAC

Catching up — and surpassing — peers

The contrast with other fast-growing ecosystems like Japan and Australia is particularly telling.

A decade ago, Australia had a slightly larger scaleup base than Korea (281 vs. 228), while Japan had twice as many (463). Today, Korea leads Australia by 35% (2,127 vs. 1,580) and is almost on par with Japan (2,127 vs. 2,268).

Korea's Startup Ecosystem

Not just Seoul …

In most countries, scaleups tend to agglomerate around a single innovation hub — typically the capital city — leaving regional ecosystems behind. Korea is only partially following this trend.

While Seoul still accounts for 73% of all Korean scaleups, this concentration level is comparable to more mature and distributed ecosystems globally. The Gyeonggi region already hosts 14% of scaleups, and other hubs such as Daejeon, Busan and Incheon are progressing steadily from standup to startup phase.

This indicates a narrowing regional innovation gap, supported by forward-looking policies that encourage localized growth and specialization.

A notable example is the R&D Special Zones program managed by the Korea Innovation Foundation. Originating with the Daedeok Research Complex in 1973, Innopolis has evolved into a national science and tech backbone, now comprising five regional zones — Daedeok, Gwangju, Daegu, Busan and Jeonbuk — and 14 InnoTowns.

Korean Life Cycle Curve

A center for global specialized R&D

This rapid growth hasn’t gone unnoticed.

As of 2025, 38 Fortune Global 500 companies have established an innovation presence in Korea, primarily through specialized R&D centers.

Korean Outposts

Why Korea? It has the trifecta:

  1. A vibrant startup ecosystem;
  2. A growing VC landscape; and
  3. Deep specialization in frontier technologies such as robotics, AI, industrial automation and advanced manufacturing.

No wonder industrial giants such as Fincantieri — a global leader in complex shipbuilding — have joined the ranks of global corporations placing innovation boots on the ground in Korea.

In short

Korea isn’t just catching up — it’s becoming a global reference point for how smart national innovation strategies can deliver real economic transformation and global influence.


Alberto Onetti is chairman of Mind the Bridge and a professor at University of Insubria. He is a serial entrepreneur who has started three startups in his career, the last of which is Funambol, among the five Italian scaleups that have raised the largest amount of capital. He is recognized among the leading international experts in open innovation and has wide experience in setting up and managing open innovation projects — venture clients, venture builders, intrapreneurship, CVCs — with large multinational companies, as well as advising and training on this subject. Onetti has a column on Sifted (Financial Times) and several other tech blogs.

Illustration: Dom Guzman


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Mijas targets British golfers in bid to promote year-round tourism

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Thursday, 17 July 2025, 17:55

The British tourism market continues to show dedication to Spain, despite the exit of the UK from the EU. Given this strong pull, Mijas town hall seeks ways to improve its position on the market, especially through the attraction that the golf segment presents. The municipality is therefore aiming to become a reference destination in international markets such as the British one.

Councillor for tourism Francisco Jerez recently participated in the Costa del Sol Road Trip, held in Liverpool and London among other UK cities. There, he held meetings with travel agents, tour operators and British golf media, some of whom showed interest in including Mijas in their catalogues and campaigns. For this reason, Mijas town hall has prepared promotional materials related to what the municipality can offer to golf lovers.

In addition, Mijas is developing proposals to agencies specialising in golf packages, combining top-level courses with quality accommodation and complementary experiences and activities. These materials and proposals specifically target the British tourist.

A destination with its own identity

“One of the main objectives has been to position Mijas not only as part of the Costa del Golf but also as a destination with its own identity, combining quality, climate, gastronomy and first-class golf courses,” Jerez said.

The British market continues to show “enormous potential” for Mijas, especially in the mid- and low-seasons, which makes it “a fundamental ally” in the deseasonalisation of tourism.

With this medium- and long-term strategy, Mijas town hall confirms “its commitment to a quality, sustainable and diversified tourism model, capable of generating added value for the municipality beyond the summer months”.



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Why Tracee Ellis Ross Packs Two Undies On Vacation

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Why Tracee Ellis Ross Packs Two Undies On Vacation



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Hiawatha Music Festival coming to Tourist Park this weekend

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MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – The Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival is coming to Marquette this weekend.

Crews are hard at work setting up Tourist Park for the festival, which aims to bring traditional American music to both seasoned fans and new admirers. Tony Trischka, WhoDat Brass, and even the Scottish band Breabach are some of the performers you can expect to hear at Hiawatha.

Volunteers say there’ll be something at the festival for every member of your family.

“If you just want to sit and watch music, you can do it at our main stage or you can do it at one of our workshop tents,” said Hiawatha Music Co-Op Board Member and Set Up Monitor Dick Pierson. “If you want to participate in dancing, [there is a tent for that]. If you want to let your kids do some crafts and make an instrument or do different things, it’ll be over in the children’s tent.”

You can check out the festival at Tourist Park from 7 p.m. on Friday until Sunday night. You can get tickets at the gate.

The video above will feature the TV6 livestream until staff can clip the corresponding story, if available, from broadcasts or other TV6 content. You can subscribe to our YouTube page or download TV6+ to stream the latest local news and weather.



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