BUSAN — Busan is moving ahead with a "Busan-style startup city" built around shipping, logistics and finance. The city plans to expand its 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) startup fund and support infrastructure beyond aid for individual companies, linking them to local flagship industries to create a city-wide startup ecosystem that can grow global firms.
The city government said on the 21st that it is forming a task force for the Busan startup city project and holding its first meeting, in response to a public competition run by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The task force includes the city government and the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, along with local universities, research institutes, public agencies, investment firms and companies. The city will oversee the effort, while the innovation center handles operations.
The task force will identify specialized startup projects by combining financial and investment capacity with the industrial, technological and testing infrastructure in shipping and logistics. It will build a support system for each growth stage, from sourcing companies to acceleration and scale-up, and connect programs and resources across participating institutions.
The city is also redrawing its spatial strategy. Centered on the Bukhang port area, it will designate core zones that link startups, support organizations and investment and global functions scattered across Busan, based on the density of startup resources, industrial links, accessibility and testing conditions. Rather than turning Bukhang into a single startup space, the strategy is to connect it with startup bases in each district and tie all of Busan into one ecosystem.
Busan has already laid groundwork for a global startup city. It has entered the top 70 among the world's emerging startup cities, established the Busan Technology Startup Investment Agency and raised a 1.5 trillion won startup fund. The latest project aims to combine that infrastructure with the region's strategic industries and turn it into city competitiveness.
The SME ministry is pursuing the startup city project with a goal of creating at least five global startup cities in the world's top 100 by 2030. Starting with the first meeting, the city plans to flesh out collaboration tasks for each institution and plans to build a pool of technical talent and promising startups, then draw up a strategy for the competition.
"We will organically connect the region's talent, technology, industry and investment capacity to create an environment where companies can grow in Busan and move on to global markets," said Kim Kyung-deok, the city's vice mayor for administrative affairs.
