Minister Lee visits Daejeon to back startup city project

Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee So-young said Thursday she would "actively support the establishment of a startup ecosystem where regional strengths translate into entrepreneurship and business growth."

Lee made the remarks at a field forum for the Startup City Development Project held Thursday afternoon at KAIST in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. "A startup city is not built through the efforts of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups or Daejeon alone — it is a project created together by universities, research institutions, investors and large corporations," she said.

The forum was organized as a follow-up to a broader regional startup ecosystem debate, with the aim of reviewing the specific progress of Daejeon's startup city initiative and discussing strategies for its successful implementation.

Daejeon ranks 296th in the global startup ecosystem rankings, placing it first among cities outside Greater Seoul. The city has strong potential for deep tech entrepreneurship, backed by top-tier talent and research and technology infrastructure at KAIST, Chungnam National University, the Daedeok Innopolis and government-funded research institutes.

To channel these strengths into entrepreneurship, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups designated Daejeon as a startup city this year and has been pursuing a project to elevate the local startup ecosystem to the next level.

Regarding the initiative, Lee said she could feel "intense competition" from cities eager to be designated. "Among them, I believe Daejeon will be the first case to lead the way," she added.

She also stressed that while expanding the program to 10 or 20 startup cities matters, Daejeon's role is ultimately critical to ensuring that key hubs are properly activated and that many people can launch and succeed in their ventures.

The Startup City Development Project aims to organically connect local startup resources — including talent, funding, investment and infrastructure — and build a city-level startup ecosystem where companies can launch, grow and put down roots in their region.

The ministry earlier announced plans to designate 10 startup cities by 2030 to bring regional startup ecosystems up to a global standard. Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Ulsan were selected as the first four cities, and a call for applications to select six additional cities is set to be announced this month. Through the project, the government aims to produce at least five startup cities ranked within the top 100 in the global startup ecosystem rankings by 2030.

At the forum, Daejeon city officials shared progress on the startup city initiative and outlined future plans. Participants exchanged views on ways to connect outstanding technology and talent from universities and research institutions to actual startups, on expanding investment and infrastructure to help startup companies grow and take root, and on strengthening cooperation among regional innovation actors.