Korea Investment and Trade Association(Kita) Vice Chairman Han Jin-hyun.

Korea Investment and Trade Association(Kita) is on the way to set up a start-up support office directly under Vice Chairman Han Jin-hyun to help startups to move overseas for operation as many as possible. This would be for the first time that Kita set up a support center for startups, showing the depth of Kita’s move to help them to go overseas.

Kita will also establish the Startup Global Center at COEX in Samsung-dong, Seoul, an integrated center to assist the startups to advance overseas in April next year. Kita plans to attract a number of well-known startup support organizations to locate to COEX and help out the startups with tailor-made platforms to explore global markets.

The trade organization said the Startup Global Center, slated to open in April, would have professional consultants on board to advise startups on how to break into the global market and implement projects with overseas partners. The center will also run diverse programs, customized for different startups, which will draw on KITA’s know-how in the area of supporting exporters.

The startup center will provide lounges and co-working spaces for networking and information sharing. It will also offer investor relations rooms and “pitching centers” to help startups attract investment.

“The Startup Global Center is designed to secure new growth engines and establish sustainable growth bases for Korean trade through the globalization of promising startups,” said Cho Sang-hyun, chief of the new center. Kita’s plan matches those floated by Chairman Kim Young-joo to set up an international hub for startups in the center of Seoul. Kita put an ad for the invitation of bidders for the startup global center, taking its first step toward its plan to help the startups to advance overseas.

The special office will have a total space of 250 pyeongs(826 sq.meters) with a number of rooms including an open lounge, the export zone, Co-working space, IR Room and pitching center.

The center will have a number of expert accelerators to help the startups to move to foreign countries and Kita would not waste the office space for providing the know-how to the exporters to boost their exports.

Earlier this month, KITA set up a support center for startups under the direct control of its vice chairman and is mapping out a comprehensive support platform for promising startups.

Vice chairman Han acknowledged that advanced countries like the U.S. and Britain have been competing one another to help the startups to boost their competitive power to strengthen the base for the reform growth of their economies and likewise, providing support to the startups to firm up a base for the reform growth of the Korean economy is the initial target of the startup global center.

He also called for a segregated competitive power for the center with Kita working to have big biz firms and startups to cut up the model for cooperative channel for their mutual survival and prosperity.

Kita will have the self survival power to be the key element of its move to globalize the startups, which is also one of the vital targets for the cooperative channels between the big and startup business firms.

Big biz firms should be able to secure its reform business mobility while the startups will secure the chances for their growth. Han said Kita will focus on the potentials of those startups growth for its support. Kita held some events to seek the survival models for the startups with a number of big firms including GS Homeshopping, LG CNS, Lotte Accelerator and Hanwha Dream Plus.

The vice chairman said Kita will focus on the globalization of the startups operations to become truly export taking advantage of the 70 years of experience for the know-how for providing support to the exporters.

Among the platforms that Kita has would include the education for the startups on foreign trade, consultations for exporting and overseas advancement and introduction of importers thru tailor-made ways on- and offline, all geared to boost the startups exports and overseas advancement.