The Daejeon Center for Creative Economy and Innovation announced on the 25th that it had received the "2025 Fastest-Growing Startup Ecosystem Award among OECD Asian Member Countries" from StartupBlink, a global startup ecosystem evaluation agency. The award was announced at the third annual "StartupBlink Startup Ecosystem Awards" online event.
This year's awardees include numerous global innovation organizations, including the Daejeon Innovation Center, Ulsan City, Enterprise Singapore, Kazakhstan's Astana Hub, and Thailand's National Agency. Headquartered in Singapore, Startupblink annually analyzes startup ecosystems at the national and city levels and releases the Global Startup Ecosystem Index (GSEI). The index includes factors such as the number of startups, co-working spaces, accelerators, the number of unicorns, investment volume, and business environment.
Daejeon rose 63 places from 429th last year to 366th this year, achieving the second-highest ranking among domestic cities after Seoul. Its strength lies in its clustered infrastructure, centered around the Daedeok Innopolis, which includes KAIST, Chungnam National University, government-funded research institutes, large-scale R&D centers, and startups. Daejeon recorded a 58% year-over-year growth rate, demonstrating the most remarkable growth among major domestic cities.
According to StartupBlink data, 27 out of 66 registered startups in the Daejeon area (41%) were incubated by the Daejeon Innovation Center, demonstrating the center's high contribution to fostering the local ecosystem.
This award marks Daejeon's international recognition as the fastest-growing startup ecosystem among Asian OECD member countries, signifying that Daejeon's technological potential and R&D infrastructure are attracting global attention.
Park Dae-hee, CEO of the Daejeon Innovation Center, said of this award, “This is the result of Daejeon’s global ecosystem growth being recognized internationally,” and added, “The center will continue to strengthen its cooperation with Startup Blink, advance the global data-based ecosystem, and expand support for overseas expansion to help Daejeon become Asia’s leading startup AX hub.”
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