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Deep tech must anchor the national startup era

Published: 02 Feb. 2026, 00:00

President Lee Jae Myung delivers opening remarks at a “National Startup Era Strategy Meeting” at the Blue House on Jan. 30. The slogan, which translates to “K-startups build the future,” is displayed in the background. [PROVIDED BY CHEONG WA DAE]

The government has declared a sweeping shift toward a state-led startup society. At a “National Startup Era Strategy Meeting” chaired on Friday, President Lee Jae Myung pledged to position Korean startups as a core engine of national growth. The government announced a “Startup for All” project that will select 5,000 aspiring founders, including 4,000 in technology fields and 1,000 in local industries, and provide each with 2 million won ($1,380) in seed funding. It also plans to launch a 50 billion won “Startup Boom Fund” to concentrate investment in early-stage founders chosen through the program.

The initiative is timely and welcome. Korea’s large conglomerate-centered industrial structure has reached its limits, and the rise of AI is ushering in an era of job displacement. But while the project may serve as a pathway toward a national startup era, that cannot be the end goal. For entrepreneurship to translate into genuine national competitiveness, policy must shift from quantitative expansion to qualitative growth that nurtures game changers capable of leading global markets.

The key lies in deep tech-based startups that commercialize breakthrough technologies that remain undiscovered in universities and research institutes. Israel’s rise as a “startup nation” did not stem from the numbers of founders but from concentrating national research and development capacity in fields requiring advanced capabilities such as AI, quantum technology and biotechnology, as well as from building systems that successfully bring those technologies to market.

On the broad base created by Startup for All, the Korean government should match teams with distinctive technologies to large-scale research and development funding and finely tuned technical support so they can cross the so-called valley of death. This requires sustained capital, comprehensive evaluation standards and close coordination between public research and private investment.

State-led startup initiatives are not new. The Park Geun-hye administration established “Creative Economy Innovation Centers” across the country, but the effort fell short of producing lasting results. Government support has widened the door to entrepreneurship. What is now needed is a market system that allows those who pass through that door to grow into unicorns. This declaration of a national startup era should move beyond slogans and become a genuine turning point that transforms Korea into a leading global hub for deep tech innovation.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.