Kospo Delivers Policy Proposals for K

Policy Discussion Co-hosted with "AI and Our Future"

The Korea Startup Forum announced on the 10th that it had co-hosted a policy debate titled "Taking K-Startups to the Global Stage" together with the National Assembly research group "AI and Our Future" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building.

The Korea Startup Forum held a policy debate titled "Taking K-Startups to the Global Stage" on the afternoon of the 10th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, in collaboration with the National Assembly research group "AI and Our Future." Korea Startup Forum

The debate was attended by National Assembly members Gun Kim, Chungkwon Park, Boyoon Choi, Jangkyum Kim, Sunyoung Kang, Jongoh Jin, and Jooyoung Lee—all members of "AI and Our Future"—as well as officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Jaewon Kim, Chair of the Korea Startup Forum, Jiyoung Choi, CEO of the Korea Startup Forum, Dokyung Lee, CEO of Born AI, and others.

In his opening remarks, Assemblyman Gun Kim said, "The Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom did not happen with a single invention such as the steam engine. It was the combination of James Watt's technology, Matthew Boulton's investment and business acumen, and the support of the patent system and market that transformed invention into industry and industry into revolution. In today's terms, it was a startup revolution created by the collaboration of tech entrepreneurs, investors, and institutions."

He continued, "It is not a lack of technology in Korean startups that is the issue, but rather whether there is a national system capable of connecting that technology to global capital and markets. If there were forward bases—like a 'startup embassy'—in Silicon Valley to connect technology and talent, and in Wall Street to connect with investors, the speed of our companies' global expansion would be different," he added.

In her keynote proposal, CEO Jiyoung Choi raised the question of whether there are truly global unicorns in Korea, highlighting the experience of Korean platform industries that, despite launching services ahead of other countries, remained focused on the domestic market.

CEO Choi pointed out, "Melon, Korea's first music streaming service, was launched four years before Spotify, yet its monthly active users (MAU) are around 6.2 million, compared to Spotify's 761 million—a gap of 122 times. KakaoTalk, which launched just seven months after WhatsApp, has only 5 million overseas users, while WhatsApp has grown into a global platform used by 3 billion people."

She went on to present three major proposals: ▲ making global compatibility the first principle in regulatory design; ▲ establishing open systems for global capital and talent; ▲ and expanding innovative procurement so that the public sector becomes the 'first customer' for new technologies.

During the subsequent roundtable discussion, company representatives in attendance shared practical difficulties, including the global compatibility of the Basic AI Act, reverse discrimination when entering overseas markets, and barriers to public procurement of new technologies. They discussed possible improvements with lawmakers and government officials present.

It was also pointed out that while new industries such as AI, physical AI, autonomous driving, robotics, and content platforms have extremely fast technology cycles, the current public procurement system takes years from business planning to actual adoption, making it difficult for technologically advanced startups to build track records in the public sector and expand overseas.

Jaewon Kim, Chair of the Korea Startup Forum, stated, "Today's AI competition comes down to securing graphics processing units (GPUs), talent, and global scalability. Our companies should not be left behind at the starting line because of institutional shortcomings rather than technological ones. Korea Startup Forum will continue to serve as a policy partner to the National Assembly to ensure that today's discussion leads to actual legislation."

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