Jeon transition team meets Busan startup forum to hear policy proposals

The transition committee of Busan Mayor-elect Jeon Jae-soo, known as the "Run Again, Busan Committee," held a meeting Tuesday morning with the Southeast Regional Council of the Korea Startup Forum at the 10th-floor conference room of the city's waterworks headquarters.

Representatives from the Southeast Regional Council and transition committee members — including Hwang Seon-ung, head of the employment and economic innovation subcommittee — attended the session to exchange views on the current state of the local startup ecosystem and its future direction.

The council said Busan needs to expand its investment ecosystem, improve conditions for talent to settle in the region, and design policies centered on local companies if it is to grow into a startup hub for the southeast.

Participants particularly stressed the need to scale up a regional growth fund that channels investment directly to locally active startups, stimulate early-stage startup investment, and build a support framework linking startups with local public institutions. They also highlighted the importance of establishing a public procurement system in which Busan and its affiliated public institutions serve as the first customers for local startups.

The council further recommended building a differentiated startup ecosystem by combining Busan's maritime, port, logistics and tourism industries with AI and deep tech, expanding access to public data, and creating regulatory sandbox environments.

Attendees agreed that for regional startups to sustain growth amid a startup and investment landscape dominated by the Greater Seoul area, policy support is needed to activate private-sector-led networking and investment ecosystems and to help young talent put down roots in the region.

The transition committee said it plans to review the policy ideas and on-the-ground opinions raised at the meeting and incorporate them into the startup and employment campaign pledges for the ninth elected-term administration.

"Startups are the growth engine that will lead the future of Busan's economy and the primary source of quality jobs for young people," said Hwang, the subcommittee head. "We will work to create an environment where innovative companies can thrive, based on what we hear from the field, and support Busan's rise as South Korea's representative startup city."