Jeju Creative Economy Innovation Center (CEO Lee Byeong-seon, hereinafter referred to as Jeju Center) held a commemorative event on June 26th at J-space on the 3rd floor of Jeju Venture Maru to celebrate its 10th anniversary, sharing the operational achievements of the past 10 years and presenting a mid- to long-term vision for the next 10 years.
The event was held on this day with approximately 100 people in attendance, including officials from Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Jeju Provincial Council, the Local SMEs and Startups Administration, startups, and related organizations. The event began with a media briefing and consisted of ▲Part 1: Commemorative Ceremony ▲Part 2: Jeju Startup Ecosystem Forum X Investor Day ▲Part 3: Startup Homecoming Day and Networking.
In his commemorative speech, CEO Lee Byeong-seon announced a 10-year vision as a “regional venture builder” centered on three directions for the future role of the Jeju Center: ▲strengthening investment and scale-up functions, ▲establishing an open innovation hub, and ▲leading a regional startup network.
Jeju Center has been operating various incubation programs for technology-based startups and local creators for the past 10 years. As of the end of 2023, a total of 416 incubation companies are registered with the center, and these companies have annual sales of 265.7 billion won and employ 1,645 people.
Investment performance is also outstanding. Since 2018, a total of 55 direct investments have been made to 46 companies, totaling 5.26 billion won, and the follow-up investment amount based on this has reached a cumulative 90.1 billion won. The total corporate value of the invested companies increased by about 3.3 times from 187.6 billion won in 2018 to 613.4 billion won in 2023. In particular, the invested company, Contec Co., Ltd., was listed on KOSDAQ in November 2023 and recorded a recovery performance of 21 times the investment amount.
The center has been designated as a TIPS operator since 2023, and has been supporting R&D funding for technology-based startup teams. Over the past two years, 10 teams recommended have all been selected, securing 7.6 billion won in government funding. Among them, aerospace startup Specs was selected for Deep Tech TIPS.
In addition, Jeju Center is working as a partner organization of the LIPS program for discovering and nurturing promising local entrepreneurs, and has discovered 13 excellent cases over the past two years, linked 8 cases with government projects, and secured a total of 700 million won in funding. It has also produced the nation's best local creators for two consecutive years in 2023 and 2024.
The second part of the commemorative event featured a keynote speech by Professor Eun-ji Choi of Honam University on the topic of “Innovation Ecosystem Strategy for a Global Startup Hub,” followed by case presentations by investment firms, large corporations, and startups that have partnerships with the Jeju Center. In particular, CEO Jeong-tae Kim of MY Social Company, which is jointly operating the Jeju Early Startup Incubation Fund, Director Jae-seung Lee of Kakao, a large corporation that is a partner, and representatives of Contec and Jecklin, which are investment companies of the Center, shared their regional investment, open innovation, and startup growth cases, respectively.
Jeju Center plans to continue to pursue various measures to create a startup ecosystem and revitalize the local economy.
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