By Diplomacy Journal Lee Kap-soo

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups hosted Global Startup Day in Jeju in conjunction with the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting (SMEMM) at the Jeju International Convention Center (ICC JEJU) for two days, from September 3 to September 4, 2025.

As one of the sectoral ministerial meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the APEC SMEMM has been held annually since 1994 to discuss issues concerning SMEs, startups, and micro enterprises within the APEC region.

This event was organized under the goal of realizing the three core agendas of the APEC Ministerial Meeting—innovative Growth, Sustainable Growth, and Inclusive Growth—at the forefront of the startup and venture scene.

It integrates and connects three major programs: ▲K-Startup Challenge Kick-off, known as Korea’s largest startup competition, ▲K-Startup Grand Challenge, a program designed to attract foreign startups, and ▲Global Venture Investment Summit.

Accordingly, on September 3, the integrated opening ceremony of Global Startup Day in Jeju took place, followed by the ▲K-Startup Challenge Kick-off integrated final opening ceremony and the ▲K-Startup Grand Challenge Showcase. On September 4, the ▲Global Venture Investment Summit was held.

At the integrated opening ceremony, the event began with an AI hologram ceremony under the theme of Connecting the Global Startup and Venture Ecosystem. This was followed by an introduction to Korea’s startup and venture ecosystem and a keynote lecture by Nidhi Agrawal, co-founder of Hangul Snack and a foreign entrepreneur from India.

K-Startup Challenge Kick-off has established itself as an early-stage platform for numerous innovative startups and has become a gateway for young and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Over the past six months, ten ministries—including the MSS, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism—have announced twelve preliminary leagues.

Among the 7,377 teams that participated, 225 teams, selected through fierce competition at a ratio of 33 to 1, officially began the startup finals with the opening ceremony on that day.