Shinhan Financial Group to Participate in Creating ‘Korean Silicon Valley’ in Songdo

Shinhan Financial Group chairman Cho Yong-byung (right) poses with Minister of SMEs and startups Park Young-sun (second from right), Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun (third from right), and Celltrion chairman Seo Jung-jin after signing a business agreement to create a startup park in Tomorrow City in Songdo, Incheon, on May 27.

Shinhan Financial Group announced on May 27 that it will participate in a project aimed at creating a startup park in Tomorrow City located in Songdo, Incheon.

The project is designed to set up an open innovation startup base like Zhong Guan Cun in China, Silicon Valley in the United States and Station-F in France. The project was launched by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups last year. The ministry received applications from 14 metropolitan and provincial governments across the nation. Incheon City was finally selected in July 2019 as the venue for the envisioned startup park. The ministry plans to invest 12 billion won to develop a startup park for companies engaged in ICT, biotech and smart city.

Shinhan Financial Group will run a one-stop accelerator program to foster startups and prospective unicorn companies. The goal is to establish a platform to foster technology startups that utilize Incheon’s geopolitical characteristics. The group plans to focus on startups specializing in Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G mobile communications, the internet of things (IoT), biotech and healthcare.

In addition, the group plans to select more than 80 startups that wish to enter the global market every year in cooperation with global accelerators in Korea, Europe, China, Southeast Asia and the Americas, including the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Tenant companies will be given free office space for up to one year for business incubation and scale-ups. The group will spend about 12 billion won in operational expenses for four years. A fund worth 50 billion won will be established to secure financial sources. A startup membership system will also be introduced to allow companies that do not move into the startup park to receive information on Shinhan Financial Group’s startup support programs.