Successive wars and rising protectionism have thrown the global industrial environment and international trade order into prolonged disarray.
For South Korea, where trade dependence — the combined share of exports and imports — accounts for 60 percent of GDP, the reshaping of global supply chains and the deepening trend of economic nationalism heighten uncertainty about the future. Risks tied to international raw material prices, interest rates and exchange rates are converging and growing more complex. Mounting pressure to meet carbon neutrality commitments in response to the climate crisis adds yet another burden.
Yet what can be done? As the saying goes, real opportunity often hides within crisis. Now, precisely when industrial and trade orders are being shaken to their foundations, is the moment to draw fully on the capabilities South Korea has built up over the decades.
With semiconductors, shipbuilding and defense industries leading a boom at the front lines, this is an ideal time to spread into global markets on the wings of digital innovation and international standards. Industrial complex companies — the driving force behind South Korea's manufacturing growth — must lead the charge. It was fitting, then, that a regional cooperation launch ceremony for the 2nd Korea Industrial Complex Export Fair (KICEF 2026) was held at EXCO in Daegu on July 2.
This year's fair will be held in Daegu in September, linked to the 62nd Industrial Complex Day commemoration — the first time the event has been hosted outside the Greater Seoul area. It marks an opportunity to spread export momentum, long concentrated in the capital region and among large conglomerates, to industrial complexes across the country. It is also expected to serve as a prime occasion to showcase the latent strength and global competitiveness of small and midsize enterprises in regions that have until now gone largely unrecognized.
Succeeding in global markets today demands far more than producing quality products at low cost. Companies must meet a complex set of conditions: manufacturing innovation capabilities integrating AI and robotics, the ability to manage carbon emissions across products and processes, and transparency and stability throughout the supply chain.
The fair coming to Daegu in September must serve as a bridgehead for industrial complex tenants seeking new markets and global expansion. It cannot remain a one-off event where companies merely display their products. Organizers must ensure that leading buyers from the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East can hold in-depth consultations with promising domestic companies. Through this, South Korean technology and products should reach a global audience — and the results should extend to long-term partnerships.
KIBA has joined hands with the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation and the Global Leading Companies Association (GLCA), among other organizations, to build a joint public-private implementation framework. At its core is a regional organizing committee formed around the heads of regional associations across the country's five major zones and three special zones. The committee gathers on-the-ground input from industrial complexes in each region while identifying promising companies that have strong technology and products but have yet to find an export channel. This field-centered cooperation will serve as a solid foundation helping Korean companies open export pathways even as the external environment shifts rapidly.
"From regional strength to the future, from corporate challenge to the world" is the fair's slogan. It is a chance to pool the energy and wisdom of business people from industrial complexes nationwide. Small innovations from the field, gathered together, can become the engine that opens a path for South Korea's exports as a whole.
Until Korean companies bear fruit in global markets, KIBA will stand close to the field as a steadfast pillar and pacemaker. As long as companies are willing to take on the challenge, South Korea's exports will not stop. As it has always been, the door opens only for those who knock.
freiheit@heraldcorp.com
