With the election of new President Park Geun-hye last February, the South Korean leader has focused on re-invigorating their domestic economy by targeting new business growth and innovation.
This cultivation of “risk takers” is capturing the support of the government which views innovators such as Steve Jobs and other entrepreneurs as individuals to emulate in fostering a new generation of business leaders.
The government is allocating funds to help propel this initiative and looking towards crowdfunding as a methodology to stimulate this shift. In a recent article from AP,
Among the policies aimed at nurturing a “creative economy,” South Korea is pouring more than 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) into funding startups, establishing a third stock market to help new ventures raise money, and changing laws to lower hurdles for crowdfunding. To increase the chances of a financial payoff for entrepreneurs, it plans to give tax breaks and other incentives to big companies that invest in startups.
“We feel the limits of the economic strategy that led our economy in the past,” said Choi Soon Hong, Park’s adviser on future strategies, at a briefing earlier this month. “From the past growth model based on imitation and catching up, we have to change the growth model based on creativity and leading.”
While South Korea is home to some of the largest global companies in the world such as tech titan Samsung, the country recognizes continued disruption and innovation are necessary to maintain competitiveness in a global economy.