Busan Startup Support Shifts From Incubation to Scale

BUSAN — Busan's startup ecosystem is evolving beyond incubating business ideas into a scale-up structure that produces jobs, revenue and investment. As the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation builds a stage-by-stage support system spanning startup sourcing, direct investment, partnerships with large companies and overseas expansion, it is playing a bigger role in drawing startup capital and talent away from the greater Seoul area.

The 246 startups the center supported and nurtured in the first half of this year added 258 new jobs and generated 108.4 billion won ($78 million) in revenue, the center said on the 17th. The results follow an expansion of its remit from sourcing startups and backing early commercialization to investment, market development and global expansion.

The center is also building up its direct investment capacity. In March it formed the Busan Global Bridge Investment Fund, worth 5.9 billion won, lifting its total assets under management to 17.6 billion won. Drawing on that, it invested 2.35 billion won directly in 19 startups in future growth sectors through the end of July, including robotics and physical AI (26%), deep tech and AI infrastructure (16%), healthcare and bio (16%), and logistics and distribution B2B platforms (16%). After investing, it continues post-investment management tailored to each company's growth stage through mentoring and links to follow-on funding.

The center is also pushing local startups into overseas markets. Working with global accelerator Plug and Play, it helped 10 local startups enter Silicon Valley. At the Startup JAPAN EXPO, held in partnership with Japanese software-as-a-service company Sansan, it arranged 298 business meetups and 80 follow-up meetings. It is expanding other overseas networks as well, including Singapore's maritime and port platform PIER71 and a Vietnam expansion project called Seuseuro.

Open innovation linking large and mid-sized companies with startups is another main pillar. The center connects local startups with Lotte affiliates and other companies to support technology validation and commercialization, and runs follow-up programs so that corporate partnerships translate into actual sales channels and investment. Under the arrangement, startups tap the infrastructure and markets of large companies, while the large companies find new technologies and business models in the region.

The center is also strengthening startup support tied to Busan's core industries. Through OSA Smart Ocean Accelerating, a reorganization of its earlier smart maritime and fintech programs, it has set up a support council involving 13 related institutions and large companies to advance digital transformation in the maritime industry and nurture startups in the field. It has also broadened its scope to identifying innovative founders in lifestyle and culture sectors through the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' LIPS program and small business support projects.

The center is expanding startup and residential infrastructure to draw people to the region. Cumulative participants in its Busan-style workation promotion project have topped 20,000. It plans to expand workation bases, once concentrated in areas such as Haeundae, to districts including Seo-gu, so that a larger visiting population feeds local consumption and new business opportunities.

Barriers for aspiring and early-stage founders are also coming down. The center serves as the Busan hub for the Startup Project for All, which identifies aspiring and early-stage founders with innovative ideas, and runs a one-stop startup support center both online and offline to help resolve difficulties that arise during the startup process.

The center plans to shift the center of gravity of regional startup support from sourcing and incubation to investment, commercialization and overseas expansion. The goal is to build an ecosystem in which companies founded in the region can secure follow-on investment and grow in Busan rather than relocating to the capital area.

"In the first half, we further solidified a full-cycle support system running from sourcing companies through open innovation, global expansion and investment," said Kim Yong-woo, chief executive of the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation. "In the second half, we will maintain close post-investment management of promising startups, including those we have invested in, and turn that into global scale-up results."