안녕하세요 한국! (Hello Korea!) This is Masato, the lead UX/UI Designer at DRVR. I‘ve been representing DRVR at the K startup challenge since this August and I’m going to be covering my experiences here.
The program includes lots of lectures, workshops, and business trips. In September, our mentor facilitated a workshop in Busan. Busan is the second largest city in South Korea and historically it has been a critical place for business and tourism. We visited several places like Nurimaru APAC House (a venue for APEC South Korea 2005), BEXCO (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center), and The Bay 101(beautiful night landscape!). Not only visiting amazing places but also attending a lecture from specialists like lawyer, investor.
I went to sites of some major companies. Hyundai Motors and Naver Corporation. Firstly, we visited Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan Plant and went through the whole manufacturing process. Hyundai Motor Company has exceeded 50 million units in cumulative sales, and is ranked 5th in the world. From here, millions of vehicles are shipped to the whole world. Secondly, we visited an office of NAVER Business Platform Corp in Pangyo. They provide global IT infrastructure management and enterprise solutions for Naver and its subsidiaries. It’s like a Korean Google! They’re collaborating with several startups for an innovative future.
How about the business landscape in South Korea? South Korea is one of the most developed countries and there are a lot of strong companies like Hyundai, Samsung, Lotte, etc. Having a strong relationship with them is very beneficial but it takes time to achieve that. They really take care of long-term relationship in order to keep their business sustainable and confidential.
We’re sharing the same space with other 79 startups from across the world like Vietnam, Finland, Canada, Colombia, etc. They have a strong will to establish a business here in Korea with their wonderful idea and innovative product. Let me share one startup with you. LIVIN Farms develops insect breeding devices for home and professional growing. I met the COO and had an opportunity to get to know his passion and vision. Running a business is not always enjoyable but a strong will gives us a way to succeed and make many people happier.
Masato
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Check out our company at http://drvr.co/
Special thanks to everyone at the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) www.nipa.kr
Special thanks to everyone at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) www.mss.go.kr/site/eng/main.do
K-Startup Grand Challenge 2018 https://www.k-startupgc.org/
Yeo Khee
