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According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

The Seoul Metropolitan Government together with Seoul-based business incubator Rehoboth is recruiting promising startups from home and abroad to join a new business incubation program to be launched at the Seoul Global Startup Center (Seoul GSC) in aspration to turn the capital into a hotbed for innovations. 

The Seoul city government and Rehoboth Business Incubator on Saturday unveiled the Seoul GSC business incubation program at Najin Electronic World in central Seoul where the Seoul GSC will be based.

Any small enterprises with at least one full-time foreign employee, or startups with a plan to make an overseas expansion are eligible to apply. Businesses with a higher presence of foreign employees have bigger chance of benefting from business support program. Anyone who is about to launch a business or has been running a business in recent five years is also eligible.

The Seoul GSC program will receive applications through www.seoulgsc.com until July 29, 2016, and select candidates for interviews on August 5. The final 40 startups for the business incubation program will be announced on August 18.

The Seoul city government launched the GSC program to draw foreign talents to Korea and Korean enterprises. It first targets foreign students in Korea and hopes to eventually become a home to promising startups run by foreign nationals.

The Seoul GSC is in talks with the Justice Ministry to simplify work visa issues for foreign entrepreneurs and employees who join the Seoul GSC program, said Yoo Yeon-sik, a general director at employment and labor department of the local government. The program will invite overseas startups on top of Korean companies, added Yoo. The Seoul GSC business incubation program will provide assistance and aid to the selected companies in work visa application, legal and financial consultations, patent application as well as fund-raising procedures. 

The organizers aspire to expand the program to a global incubation platform together with startup developers from China, Vietnam, and the United States, said Kevin Park, director at Seoul GSC. In the longer run, members of the programs would gain access to a bigger global market, he added.

By Lee Yu-sup

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (Jul. 10, 2016)