South Korea to help Uzbekistan develop a startup ecosystem

The Minister of Innovative Development of Uzbekistan Ibrohim Abdurahmonov and the Minister of SMEs and Startups of the Republic of Korea Park Young-sun signed a memorandum of understanding, providing support for the formation of an ecosystem of startups in Uzbekistan.

“In Uzbekistan, the Korean experience of developing a start-up system will be applied to join the 50 leading countries of the world according to the Global Innovation Index by 2030,” Ibrohim Abdurahmonov said.

The parties also agreed to organize the participation of Uzbek representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in the K-Startup Grand Challenge competition in November of this year, where participants will have the opportunity to consult with the best Korean companies, participate in seminars, trainings, conferences, networking events and cooperate with individual mentors.

During the year, the winners of the competition from Uzbekistan will be provided with financial support for the launch of their business projects. In addition, the Korean side expressed its willingness to accept in order to exchange experience in the field of innovative entrepreneurship through the development of small and medium-sized businesses, representatives of Uzbekistan, and also to provide methodological support in the formation of a startup ecosystem in Uzbekistan.

The conclusion of the memorandum of understanding will provide an opportunity to establish cooperation in the development of business infrastructure, the innovation ecosystem and related services, in particular incubators, clusters and “business angels” that help improve the integration of science, education and small and medium-sized businesses, as well as partnerships between the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (GCCEI) and Innovative Technopark “Yashnabad”.