The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced that Korea has entered into a partnership agreement as the ‘Country of the Year’ with Viva Technology 2023, the biggest startup event in Europe. This kind of agreement is reached with only one country in the world in a year.

* (June 14-17, 2023, Paris) The biggest start-up and tech event in Europe

The partnership was officially announced by the organizer at the Viva Technology press conference held in Paris.

* March 21 (Tuesday), 2023, 10 a.m. (local time) / Announced by Maurice Levy (Co-Chair of VivaTech) in Paris, France

Held since 2016, Viva Technology is the largest startup event in Europe. This year, the event is specially operated in a hybrid online-offline format with various programs. Startups will have the opportunity to participate in conferences and pitching sessions with their offline booths set up, as well as online promotion opportunities (e-booth). 

The ‘Country of the Year’ partnership signed by VivaTech and Korea is a top-level partnership established in 2022. As the ‘Country of the Year,’ Korea, along with participating Korean startups will be given the opportunity to take part in exhibitions, give the keynote speech, and participate in major programs, as well as pitching and active media promotion opportunities.

In particular, Korea’s ‘K-Startup Pavilion,’ together with Viva Technology’s founding partners,* will be installed at the center of the main hall.

* BNP Paribas, Google, La Poste, LVMH, Orange, etc.

About 30 Korean startups and SMEs will participate in Viva Technology 2023, and the ‘Country of the Year’ partnership will give Korean startups and SMEs seeking to enter the European market more opportunities for business promotion, program participation, investor meetings, and networking.

Minister Lee Young gave a congratulatory speech, responding to the announcement of the partnership at the official Viva Technology press conference in France.

In her congratulatory remarks, the Minister discussed the startup ecosystem of Seoul, which ranks 10th among 280 cities in the world in terms of startup ecosystems, as well as the Republic of Korea, which ranks 10th in terms of unicorn companies in the world. Lee also described the Korean government’s policies that actively foster scale-up of the Korean startups in the global market.

The Minister also requested to “keen interest in the Korean startups and SMEs that are participating in Viva Technology 2023, as they demonstrate high technological competitiveness and significant growth potential.”

Lee added, “We hope that these opportunities will enhance the stature of K-startups, as we have similarly seen in the rise of K-pop and K-dramas.”