[Newsmaker] SK chairman catches up on creative economy boost

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won cheered on staffers by visiting the group’s provincial-based innovation centers Tuesday, in line with his stated promise to lend a hand in reviving the South Korean economy and support the government’s ongoing drive for a creative economy.

Chey made his way down to the two SK innovation centers in Daejeon and Sejong, located south of Seoul, in a bid to “express the group’s will to contribute to the country’s economic growth through the success of its creative economy innovation centers,” said group spokesman Lee Man-woo.

He also visited the Chungbuk Creative Economy Innovation Center, a biopharmaceuticals start-up incubator led by LG Group, seeking to find ways for the nation’s 17 innovation centers to synergize and benchmark each other’s success.

His visits came amid rising pressure on SK to take the lead in revitalizing the economy, following Chey’s release from prison last week through special presidential pardons granted to high-profile businessmen to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan.

The SK chief -- who has swiftly returned to management after spending more than two years in jail on embezzlement charges -- had vowed to step up efforts to reinvigorate the stagnant economy upon his release.

At the Daejeon center, the chairman called for “speedier and expanded measures to bolster new growth in the field of creative economy” and pledged to “turn the center into a major support hub for the creation of new business in the science and technology sector,” according to SK Group.

Located at KAIST, one of Korea’s most prestigious universities focusing on science and technology research and development, the center opened its doors in October 2014 aiming to nurture information and communications technology-based start-ups.

He met and encouraged the heads of the venture firms that had taken part in the center’s inaugural start-up incubating program, which offered one-on-one business mentorship and marketing support led by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning alongside SK Group.

“Let us work together to create a creative economy business atmosphere by building a win-win business ecosystem with SK Group,” Chey said, adding that “creating a viable environment for start-ups takes efforts by both (conglomerates and venture firms) toward a common goal.”

Chey also presented himself at the group’s Sejong Creative Economy Innovation Center, launched in June to nurture new start-ups in the agriculture sector with a particular focus on using information and communication technology to improve local farming systems.

“The fusion of agriculture and high technology to bring about revolutionary changes truly shows the creative economy at work in this sector,” Chey told officials at the Sejong center, adding that “such a business model should be expanded across Korea and the world.”

Moreover, the SK chairman asked group officials to devise new ways to use the two centers to boost the success of the group’s recently announced job creation plans to hire some 24,000 new employees over the next two years.

In line with his orders, SK Group said it will work to “further develop and utilize the group’s leading technology in the energy, chemicals and semiconductors sectors to drive forward the growth of Korean venture firms.”

The country’s third-largest conglomerate is also mulling an envisioned plan to invest roughly 46 trillion won ($38 billion) into the group’s chip making unit SK hynix, following a high-level meeting attended by Chey and the heads of the group’s key affiliates Monday.

Aiming to hire more young employees and boost job security, SK is considering the implementation of the wage peak system across all its affiliates by next year as well.

Under this system pushed by the government and being adopted by other conglomerates like Samsung, LG and Lotte, the retirement age has been extended while the paycheck for elderly workers reduced over their last several years at work.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)