South Korea has the potential to give Silicon Valley and China a run for its money. The country has ranked as the most innovative economy by Bloomberg, dominating international charts in R&D intensity, value-added manufacturing, and patent activity.
It’s a melting pot of innovation. Think about it: which other country is competing head-on with Apple in the high-end smartphone race? The East Asian nation is also home to the fastest internet on earth and broadband services per capita is the highest in the globe.
Leading the fourth industrial revolution
The world is seeing its fourth industrial revolution, spearheaded by digitization, artificial intelligence, robotics, increased connectivity, and autonomous vehicles. Korea could have a huge part to play.
Smartphone and appliance companies in the country have begun adopting artificial intelligence. Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is one example with AI-based voice recognition technology as one of the phone’s new features.
Korea is also a leader in digital banking
The challenges
But just like any tech industry in the world, there are challenges that startups can encounter once they bring their operations to Korea. The dominance of family conglomerates is an issue. The combined revenue of the top five conglomerates formed over half of Korea’s GDP in 2015. Nevertheless, some players like Yello Mobile want to take on the goliaths.
Recently, the Korean government unveiled a comprehensive plan to ease regulations on investments in startups. Foreign entrepreneurs are also welcome to pitch business ideas. The new president, Moon Jae In, is also set to remove policies hindering the growth of IT in Korea.
Any startup that chooses Korea to establish its operations will find itself surrounded by constant innovation and evolution.
This article was published on Tech in Aisa. You can read the original article here.