The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it held the ‘AroundX Open Innovation Seminar’ at the ComeUp 2025 event held at COEX in Seoul on the 12th. The event was a gathering of global companies and startups to share their achievements and plans.
The seminar was divided into two parts. The first part featured a panel talk by companies with outstanding achievements in the AroundX program, and the second part announced the operation plans for the next year. The AroundX program is a global open innovation program that supports the growth and overseas expansion of domestic startups through collaboration between the government and leading global companies. A total of 1,600 startups have participated in the program to date.
This year, 13 global companies, including Google Play, NVIDIA, and Microsoft, participated, and six startups shared their success stories of technological advancement and global expansion. Next year, four new global companies, including Mercedes-Benz, Astellas, OpenAI, and HP, will join the program.
First Vice Minister Noh Yong-seok expressed his expectation that the addition of new global companies will help the AroundX program develop into a representative global open innovation platform for Korea.