Director General Koh Kyeong-mo of the Creative Economy Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. (Photo:MSIP)

True to the major national agenda of the Creative Economy, the government has inaugurated 17 Centers for Creative Economy and Innovation (CCEIs) with the goal of nurturing specialized industries suited to each region’s competitive strengths. 

“We’ll redouble efforts to ramp up such capabilities as networking and collaboration hub, so that each center can be established as a full-fledged innovation hub of each region after July when all CCEIs are inaugurated,” said Director General Koh Kyeong-mo of the Creative Economy Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP). “To this end, each center will work out detailed action plans to flesh out core projects announced upon its inauguration and MOU signed with regional innovation institutions.”

Director-General Koh said, “CCEIs play a pivotal part as startup hubs to unearth, incubate and provide investments support to promising ventures and startup businesses.” 

Even though Creative Economy Innovation Centers have been established 10 months ago or less, he said, the government’s efforts to boost innovation through the centers have begun to pay off. In efforts to prod people with creative ideas, 5,000 mentoring services have been so far offered, 960 cases of prototype products have been made, 250 cases of incubating startups have been offered. More than 50 companies have induced a combined 23 billion won in investments, Director-General Koh said. The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and Director-General Koh of MSIP, in which he spoke of the significance of the establishment of CCEIs and a plan to nurture future growth engines. 

Question: Will you tell our readers about major plans and projects the Creative Economy Policy Bureau wants to implement this year?

Answer: All 17 CCEIs, which are to be in place in July, provide a one-stop service for the whole value chain of starting businesses, including mentoring for startups, technology development, and financial support. Each ministry, local governments and conglomerates, collaborate in the innovating of SMEs by nurturing core projects tailored to meet each region’s characteristics. For instance, Daegu and Daejeon aim at fostering electronics and semiconductor industries, respectively, while Jeollabuk-do and Chungcheongnam-do are each designated as centers of carbon materials and agro-fisheries products. 

Besides, the government is implementing regulatory reform to facilitate M&As to create the world’s top venture and startup ecosystem, as well as tax overhaul and legislation for expediting angel investments and crowdfunding. A pilot program on a platform of contribution is under way. A revision of the Act of Capital Markets, which went into effect last Dec. 30, will allow stakes in crowdfunding starting next January. 

The “Creative Economy Valley” will be established as a cluster of innovative support to startups and ICT in Pangyo, south of Seoul, which boasts of an environment with better market access, corporate networking and convergence. The Future Global Startup Center, the Venture 1G Venture Mentoring Center and the Biz Doctor Center will be relocated there. The valley will be extended later for creating the “2nd Creative Economy Valley.”

The government plans to make strenuous efforts to secure a competitive edge in 19 promising areas, including intelligent robots and personalized wellness care, by establishing a comprehensive action plan on the implementation of future growth engines to explore sources of future national income. 

Lastly, we plan to upgrade online information provision and access by overhauling portals of the Creative Economy Towns and CCIEs. 

The Creative Korea 2015 will take place at the COEX in Seoul from Nov. 26 to Nov. 30, not only to take stock of the achievements they have made so far, but also for the general public to get a better understanding of the Creative Economy. User-oriented mobile will be optimized, specific mentoring will be reinforced, and collaboration between related government agencies and the private sector will be leveled up. The exhibition will integrate science and technology as well as ICT events each ministry has organized, and showcase comprehensive outcomes of the Creative Economy.

Q: Will you elaborate on your ministry’s efforts to spread an environment of the Creative Economy?

A: We’re endeavoring to foster an environment of the Creative Economy filled with a challenging spirit, breaking the conventional mold without fear of failure. Creative Economy Towns aim at creating an environment in which ideas being suggested by all people can evolve without being buried. As of June 30, the number of visitors surpassed the 1.9 million mark, a membership of towns had 69,788 people, and a total of 25,132 ideas have been proposed. The portion of members in their 10s and 20s rose from 17 percent in February 2014 to 33 percent in May 2015. 

The 17 CCEIs and our ministry strive to stoke a nationwide startup boom by holding the 2015 Creative Economy Grand Prix, the Idea/Startup Competition and other events to commercialize ideas. 

A maker-movement will be fostered to lead individuals’ own realization of creative ideas to keep a balance with hardware infrastructure. The Private and Public Consultative Committee of the Creative Economy was convened on July 3 to come up with steps to step up the maker movement. We plan to expand support to spread a maker-movement through flexible educational programs for youth, so that students can pick up a habit of engaging in the movement from a young age. “Maker Alliances” will be operated to promote cooperation and exchanges between regional maker groups so that anyone can have an access at ease and make his or her own things without the burden of failures. 

Our ministry plans to make the upcoming Creative Korea 2015 a festive event to spread the creative economy environment.

Q: Will you expound the government’s plan to nurture future growth engines?

A: The government designated 19 of the top future growth engine segments last year and came up with a comprehensive action plan this April, containing detailed strategies to secure future growth engines by 2020. MSIP and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have established an organic cooperative mechanism by integrating industrial engine projects to nurture national future breadwinner industries. 

For instance, in the smart automobile sector, Korea plans to demonstrate the top four automobile-ICT convergence services by 2017 and secure core parts related to autonomous driving. The Act on the Management of Automobiles and other related laws and systems are to be revised. 

In the intelligent robot field, the nation aims at securing the top three core robot technologies — robot intelligence, human-robot interaction, and remote controllability — at the earliest possible date, with the goal of posting 9.7 trillion won in robot production by 2020. Korea plans to implement convergence R&D activities into the top eight fields — manufacturing, automobile, medical/ rehabilitation, culture, national defense, education, marine and agriculture industries — that can be combined with robots. 

In the personalized wellness care field, personal personalized health care systems and service models combining personal life logs health checks and medical information will be developed and pilot programs will be implemented to help SMEs have a great track record. 

Flagship projects on such tasks as energy storage systems, carbon fiber technology based on composite materials, obesity management services, “polyketone project,” next-generation film screening systems and fuel cells will be implemented to achieve the outcomes of future growth engines at an initial stage and induce investments from the private sector.

Q: Will you introduce us to the Center for Creative Economy and Innovation in each region of the nation?

A: The CCEI can be summed up as a kind of “idea factory.” The center caters to the making of marketable products and services to anyone with creative ideas by supporting professional mentoring. The center is a space for not only starting businesses, but also carrying out innovative activities such as the existing SMEs’ grafting new function, technology and design. 

Patents owned by public entities and large-sized companies are made available free of charge in the process, and large-sized firms’ overseas sales networks and marketing capabilities will be offered to help SMEs explore overseas markets. 

Now that all the 17 CCEIS are up and running, with Incheon CCEI having being launched on July 22, I am confident that the CCEIs will become the hub for regional innovation and job creation, accelerating the process of materialization and spread of the Creative Economy. 

First, the Center for Creative Economy and Innovation plays the role of acting as startup hubs to unearth, incubate and provide investment support to promising ventures and startups. 

In particular, the C-Lab at the Daegu Center and the Dream Venture Start at the Daejeon Center have established themselves as representative public startup competitions that have begun to reap successful achievements. A smartphone battery charger maker in Daegu has struck a deal to supply products with KT, while TEGway in Daejeon has grabbed the top prize in the global top 10 IT breakthrough technologies, designated by UNESCO, for the development of a technology converting body heat into electricity. 

Each center is engaged in nurturing specialized industries suited to each region’s characteristics. 

For instance, Jeollabuk-do is for fostering the carbon fiber segment, Gyeongsangbuk-do for smart factory, Gwangju for automobiles, Chungcheongbuk-do for so-called K-beauty, Busan for film/distribution, Gyeonggi-do for Fintech/game, Gyeongsangnam-do for smart machinery, Gangwon-do for Big Data, and Chungcheongnam-do, for photovoltaic power. The centers in Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gwangju aim to have 140 SMEs outfitted with smart factories this year. Currently, 38 companies have already introduced smart factories to spearhead such regional corporate innovation as the improving of productivity, the enhancing of product quality and the reduction of unit prices. 

We’ll redouble efforts to ramp up such capabilities as networking and collaboration so that each Center for Creative Economy and Innovation can be established as a full-fledged innovation hub of each region after July, when all are inaugurated. To this end, each center will work out detailed action plans to flesh out core projects announced upon its inauguration and MOU signed with regional innovation institutions. The central government plans to look at the detailed action plans, to induce cooperation from local governments so that necessary funds and budgetary support can be provided in a timely manner.