사진 확대

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Thursday vowed to make Seoul one of the world’s top five startup hubs.

During the opening ceremony of Try Everything 2025, a global startup festival held Thursday at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul, Oh said the city will establish a 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) Vision 2030 fund to intensively invest in artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and content.

Try Everything is Korea’s largest global startup event, bringing together promising startups, large and mid-sized companies, investors, and accelerators from around the world.

Co-hosted by Maeil Business Newspaper, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), the event features the participation of 12 overseas investment institutions from 10 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia.

This year’s festival, held until Friday under the theme “Dive Deep, Fly High,” includes success stories from startup leaders who have gained global recognition with AI-driven services as well as a real-time matching system that connects investors and entrepreneurs on the spot.

The event provides new business opportunities for overseas companies seeking to enter Korea and for Korean firms preparing to expand abroad.

Risako Koyama of Japan, who is running a booth during the event, said, “Our AI customer service training platform Abara has partnered with convenience store operator Lawson. We are here to explore expansion into Korea.”

Choi Hwa-rang, CEO of SevenPointOne, developer of an AI dementia screening solution, added, “Ahead of our initial investment round, we secured a meeting with a Japanese company.”

The opening ceremony was attended by Mayor Oh, Maekyung Media Group Vice Chairman Chang Seung-joon, Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, and Zack Kass, former head of commercialization strategy at OpenAI.

Delivering the keynote speech, Oh said, “It is especially meaningful to meet you here at DDP, a creative and innovative landmark loved by global corporations.”

Oh reiterated his ambition to turn Seoul into “a massive startup incubator,” highlighting three strategies: accelerating global expansion, expanding open innovation, and focusing on AI industry development.

By 2030, the city plans to increase its overseas outposts to 20, supporting 300 firms each year in entering foreign markets, while also creating a 500 billion won AI investment fund to nurture 10,000 AI specialists annually.