The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Han Sung-sook, hereinafter referred to as 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. This event was designed to bring together global companies and startups participating in the AroundX program to share their annual achievements and future plans.
The seminar was divided into two parts. In the first part, six startups that achieved outstanding results in the 2025 program presented their successful cases of technological advancement and overseas expansion through collaborations with global companies. The participating companies, including startups that collaborated with L'Oréal Korea, Thales, AWS, NVIDIA, Intel, and Dassault Systèmes, shared the technological competitiveness and achievements they achieved through these collaborations, garnering a enthusiastic response from the audience.
In Part 2, the AroundX program's 2026 operational plan was announced. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced four new global companies joining the program starting next year, with Mercedes-Benz, Astellas, OpenAI, and HP joining as new partners. This brings the total number of leading global companies participating in the 2026 program to 17.
In particular, Mercedes-Benz Korea formalized its cooperation by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Institute of Startups & Entrepreneurship Development for the operation of AroundX at the event that day.
Launched in 2019 as a "Global Enterprise Collaboration Program" in partnership with Google Play, the AroundX program has since attracted over 1,600 startups. It has established itself as a leading global open innovation program, where the government and global companies jointly support the growth and international expansion of domestic startups.
Noh Yong-seok, First Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “With the addition of new global companies, AroundX will grow further as a global open innovation platform representing Korea,” and “We will continue to support domestic startups so that they can continue to innovate through collaboration with global companies.”
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