Invest KOREA

About 300 ICT Companies from S.Korea and China attend the "K-Global China" hosted by the Ministry of Science & ICT and KOTRA
The two sides seek cooperation through consultation, conference, forums and an IR session with start-ups in Shenzhen, the 'Silicon Valley of China'

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Ministry of Science and ICT jointly hosted the "K-Global China 2018" in Shenzhen, China to attract investment and support domestic ICT SMEs and start-ups advance into the Chinese market. K-Global is Korea's leading consultation and conference event held overseas to support Korean ICT companies' overseas advancement and foster business exchange in the ICT and high-tech industry at home and abroad.

The event took place for two days starting on the 5th, with programs such as "Exhibition and One-to-One Business Consultation Conference," "Korea-China ICT Forum," and "IR Session for Start-ups." Leading ICT export companies and 45 start-ups from Korea and 250 companies from China including buyers, VC, and accelerators participated in the event.

ICT exports to China in October amounted to USD 10.48 billion, up by 3.3% from the same period last year, surpassing USD 10 billion for six consecutive months. China has become the biggest market for Korean ICT industry. Also, Shenzhen is the first Chinese city to host K-Global China, which has 21 among the top 100 IT companies in China. Furthermore, according to the 2017 Global Innovation Index Report, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong region is the world 's second largest global innovation cluster following the Tokyo-Yokohama region, and has been named the "Silicon Valley of China."
* Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy / Ministry of Science and ICT

In addition, among participating global ICT companies were BYD, the world's No.1 electric car manufacturer; and OPPO and VIVO, the world's fifth and sixth largest smartphone manufacturers, respectively. 68 buyers came from six regions of China including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to examine Korean companies' products related to fields of the 4th Industrial Revolution such as IoT, AI·Big Data, Robotics·Smart Factory, and VR·AR.

As the opening ceremony, a forum was held where participants sought ways of cooperation in the fields of IoT, 5G, Smart Factory, and Robotics under the theme of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution and the New Era of Korea-China Cooperation." In the afternoon IR session with start-up companies, 17 Korean promising start-ups in ICT and software had time to introduce their products and exchange networks with about 100 Chinese investors.

Doo Young Kim, KOTRA's Executive Vice President for Innovative Growth, said, "China already has 194 unicorn companies, each of them with an enterprise value of more than USD 1 billion. It has exceeded the United States' 136 and has become the world's best in global innovative growth." He noted, "S. Korea and China should continue to cooperate by sharing their high ICT capabilities, for example, through technology export and international joint R&D."

Source: KOTRA (December 5, 2018)