NEW YORK (Yonhap News) ― South Korea plans to set up a business support center for its people in Boston as early as November, the country’s Science Minister said Thursday.
The center will mostly work with South Koreans starting new businesses in the United States, according to Choi Mun-kee, the minister of science, ICT and future planning.
“Boston has an outstanding environment for start-up businesses with active cooperation between the industrial and academic circles and administrative support for new businesses in attracting investment,” he said while meeting reporters here.
 |
Choi Mun-kee |
The Boston center, if opened, will be the second of its kind after the first South Korean start-up business center opened in Silicon Valley in May.
It hasn’t been decided whether the Boston center will be an institute with a facility or just a support program for new businesses, a ministry official said later.
Still, Choi said the center will work especially with new businesses in the medical, bioscience and software industries, noting a number of people have already expressed interests in starting related businesses in the capital of Massachusetts.
“South Korea‘s environment for start-ups still lacks a few vital elements, but Boston has a very good environment for new businesses, with technical support from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a large number of angel investors, who invest in venture firms even in early stages,” the minister said.
“The government will work to create new firms that directly aim for the global market from the very start by using Boston’s venture-friendly environment,” he added.
Choi arrived here on Tuesday for the U.S.-Korea Conference on Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship, which was attended by some 1,100 scientists, officials and business people from both countries.
