• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.131-154
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• 2018

While strong investments on startup and venture ecosystem prosper worldwide, growing interest on nurturing startup ecosystem in Korea is also on its way. However, korean entrepreneurial ecosystem currently results few successful business models with those continuous development of itself compared to the one in China, which is breeding more than 50% of unicorns internationally. Accordingly, this study examined how people in the venture ecosystem, especially in IT industry feel about themselves and startup itself and compared startup ecosystem in Seoul, Korea to the one in Chengdu, China considering each of economic, social and administrational environment. The study tried to provide an implication about the future orientation of Korea's starup and venture ecosystem to policy makers and the ones inside the environment to make a better one. Therefore, the study choose Seoul, Korea and Chengdu, China as geological specimens of startup ecosystem and conduct qualitative study by interviewing selected ones who work in startup incubator, accelerator specified to IT industry and started their own business in IT industry funded by startup reward program. The study categorize the result in social, economic, and administrative parts and screens whether the interviewees from both Korea and China have similar opinions toward each of questions and can be translated to have tendency or not in each part of study. According to the study, the national recognition of startup should be moved from means of maintenance such as restaurants, franchise business to IT startup especially based on software business for the sustainable flourish in Korean venture ecosystem. Investors including accelerator, Angel investors and VCs should be less risk-aversion and therefore prefer stake purchase to solely giving subsidies. The role of governors should be limited to be a middleman of the network, connecting each people in need inside the ecosystem and their reward program should focus on nurturing the growing ones, not just multiplying the numbers of startups to expand the size of entrepreneurial ecosystem. Since this study indicated that entire revision of startup ecosystem should be applied to make a better one, it could be used to design future entrepreneurial infrastructure and the ways of activating startup ecosystem elsewhere in Korea.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.167-186
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• 2018

In this paper try to derive some implications through comparative studies of accelerator in Korea and US centering on accelerator process model. In addition, the concept of accelerator is defined comprehensively through the existing literature study, and the accelerator program is focused on the accelerator process model. In the study, three Korea and America accelerators were selected and analyzed as follows. First, we discussed the definition of the accelerator, the configuration program, and the differences with existing organizations. Second, after selecting three representative companies among Korean and American accelerators, history, programs, achievements, characteristics, and limitations were derived. Third, based on the existing literature research, we compared the differences in appearance and performance between the six Korean and US accelerator companies using the table. Finally, the limitations and implications of domestic accelerators are described.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.54-60
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• 2009

On January of this year, the 29th National Science and Technology Council, presided by President M.B. Lee, officially finalized a contract for a big project to build an International Science and Business Belt(ISBB) that includes the establishment of a new institute, the Asian Basic Science Institute (ABSI) and the construction of a Rare Isotope Accelerator. The government will inject more than 3.5 trillion Wan into the ISBB project. The investment to build the care laboratory for the project, the heavy ion accelerator, the first one in Korea, will be 460 billion Wan, Korea thus aiming to build an accelerator with world-class performance. This will be the sixth in the world. The construction will start from 2012, and is planned to finish by 2015. ABSI, whose construction will be finished by 2012, is planned to be a care laboratory with 3,000 scientists and staff. To. attract world class researchers and other professionals from aver the world, the project includes the creation of a new city with a superb educational, cultural environment, and comfortable living environment for an international community. The site for this new science and business city, "scientific ecosystem", has not been officially decided yet, and supposed to be announced in the first half af this year.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2022

This study analyzed the effects of start-up preparations for start-ups, start-up support for start-ups, and accelerator support on business satisfaction for start-ups. For this purpose, an empirical analysis was conducted on 308 founders. The main empirical study results are as follows. Start-up preparation, start-up support, and accelerator support have positive(+) significance in the start-up satisfaction of start-up companies. Among the variables that had a significant effect, the preparation of the start-up team was found to have the greatest influence. These results are considered to be consistent with the view that the importance of the private start-up support system is gradually increasing in the start-up ecosystem, and that the composition of the start-up team is the most important factor in start-up.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2022

Although start-up is a key national strategy to increase national competitiveness and create employment, the survival rate of start-ups has not improved significantly. This is an important reason for the inability to provide timely and appropriate support to startups, which are in the early stages of start-up, due to the unique limitations of existing start-up support institutions and investors. The relatively recent accelerator is attracting attention as a subject of solving the above problems through professional incubation and investment. However, there are only a few empirical studies on investment determinants that affect the survival and success of accelerators, and there is a lack of theoretical evidence. Accordingly, in previous studies, 12 investment determinants were derived from a static, strategic, and dynamic perspective as accelerator investment determinants based on a business model innovation framework. This study subdivided the accelerator investment determinants derived through previous studies into 21 and analyzed the importance and priority of each factor using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) analysis technique for domestic accelerator investment experts. As a result of the analysis, the top factors of importance of accelerator investment determinants were in the order of 'human resources', 'customer and market', 'intellectual resources', and 'entrepreneur's ability to realize opportunities'. It can be seen that the accelerator considers the core competencies of startups to implement solutions as the most important factor when making startup investment decisions. It was also confirmed that accelerators are strategic to create a clear value proposition and differentiated market position based on the core competitiveness of startups, and that the core value delivery method prefers a market-oriented business model and recognizes entrepreneurs's innovation capability is an important factor to realize a business model with limited resources in a rapidly changing market. This study is of academic significance in that it analyzes the importance and priority of accelerator investment determinants through demonstration as a follow-up study on accelerator investment determinants derived based on business model innovation theory that reflects the nature, goals, and major activities of accelerator investment. In addition, it is of practical value as it contributes to revitalizing the domestic startup investment ecosystem by providing accelerators with theoretical grounds for investment decisions and specific information on detailed investment determinants.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1163-1186
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• 2013

Big science such as nuclear fusion accelerators shares the characteristic of requiring long-term and massive budget input, human power, and related state-of-the-art technology. Because big science, by nature, thus requires large-scale budgets and facilities yet harbors the possibility of failure, most projects are led by the government. When the actual circumstances are examined, however, such projects are often implemented through the formation of cooperative relations with small and medium businesses (SMBs) possessing outstanding technological capacity. On the other hand, the reality is that the entry of corporations into the business ecosystem of big science is not easy and that even those that have once entered big science likewise fail to find sales outlets for technology that they have developed following the supply of single items, thus leading their technological capacity to lie idle. Consequently, based on an awareness of the problem, the present study seeks to propose strategies for activating the business ecosystem of nuclear fusion and accelerators and to present alternatives regarding which policy tasks must be pursued first by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique. The present study derived the four policy alternatives of approach, care, expansion, and infrastructures in accordance with the results of empirical analysis to activate the business ecosystem of nuclear fusion and accelerators and analyzed their priority in terms of urgency and effectiveness, the results of which were, in this order: care-approach-expansion-infrastructures. The significance of such research results lie in presenting the policy direction when the government determines which policy task must be pursued first and implements strategies for the activation of the business ecosystem of nuclear fusion and accelerators with limited financial resources in the future.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.39-48
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• 2018

Despite the fact that Daejeon has excellent technology infrastructures such as government-funded research institutes, Daedeok Innopolis, and KAIST, the infrastructure for initial investment and growth support for technological start-ups is not sufficient. In particular, the amount of venture capital supply in Daejeon is relatively low compared to other innovation infrastructures. The purpose of this study is to suggest the implications of the venture capital ecosystem in Daejeon area through the analysis of what evolution process has been undergoing and what improvements and complementary points are needed in the future. First, the role of public finance system should be strengthened in order to stimulate angel investment and private capital inflows to start-up companies. Second, in order to cultivate investment professionals in the region, it is necessary to grant local funds to local institutions, and to run investment expert training courses in universities. Third, cooperation between related agencies is needed to add accelerator functions to existing incubators and to foster new accelerators. Fourth, in order to expand the role of local governments, it is necessary to establish funds, to open innovation mindset of public officials, and to communicate effectively with the central government. Fifth, basic venture ecosystem infrastructures such as inflow of excellent manpower, prevention of technology deception, improvement of rechallenge environment should be expanded. Sixth, it is necessary to reorganize the step-by-step start-up financing policy of 'Establishment - Growth - Exit - Rechallenge'. This study is meaningful in that it has grasped the current status of venture start-up financial ecosystem in Daejeon, which is changing rapidly. In particular, it is different in that it identifies financial difficulties venture companies in Daejeon and finds ways to utilize existing financial ecosystem efficiently.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-44
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• 2020

Accelerators that invest in early startups, as well as nursery and overall management, have recently emerged as "key players" in the startup ecosystem. This can be proved by the case where the number of domestic accelerators registered in the Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups has recently reached 208. Accelerators provide the necessary education for early-stage companies, including guidance for a certain period of time, and support startups in ways such as demo days to attract subsequent investment after the seed investment. There is not much research in academia about what factors impact on these accelerators when making investment decisions at the time of seed investment. In this study, we checked the meaning and function of the accelerator and tried to analyze what factors affect on accelerators when making a decision to invest in startups. The research method is based on a literature survey of previous studies on investment decision-making factors of venture capital and angel investors, and a lens model and judgment analysis method through empirical research targeting 43 accelerator investment decision-makers. Empirical analysis shows that accelerators have three of the key factors to consider when choosing the first startup to invest and educate; entrepreneurs' entrepreneurial traits, their product and service expertise and a potential return on success. This will provide an opportunity for early startups to gain strategic access to accelerators when they need money or need a structured educational program. Also, the results obtained through this research will be a kind of guideline for startups to attract accelerators' investment. The significance of this study is that discriminatory evidence was presented on the accelerator determinants of investment, and it would be highly suggestive to startups and related public institutions.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.13-35
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• 2020

Startup accelerators are a new type of investors providing a certain amount of shares for imparting education, mentoring, networking, and providing space and seed money that can directly resolve the difficulties faced by nascent entrepreneurs (Clarysse, 2016). Startup accelerators have expanded worldwide as their influence over the startup ecosystem has increasingly been established (Pauwels et al., 2016; Cohen & Hochberg, 2014). This study was conducted to derive investment determinants of startup accelerators that are emerging as major investment players around the world. To this end, the accelerator-type determinants of investment were derived. As previous research on this topic is nonexistent, this process involved qualitative meta-synthesis, literature reviews, observation, and in-depth interviews. First, more than 30 research papers were examined for the determinants of investment for firms at an early stage of their foundation, and the categories and determinants of investment in the relevant studies were comparatively analyzed using qualitative meta-synthesis. Further, related data were investigated to identify the characteristics of accelerators, and the startup evaluation process of US accelerators was studied. The more than 100 questions raised during this process were coded to examine the determinants of investment that accelerators considered important. In-depth interviews were conducted with four US accelerators to identify the characteristics of accelerators and key determinants of investment. Ultimately, 5 categories of accelerator-type determinants of investment and 26 subordinate determinants of investment were derived. The results were verified and supplemented by consulting with seven accelerators in Korea. The results were confirmed after pilot tests and verification by seven domestic accelerators. After confirming the accelerator-type determinants, the reliability of them was verified by examining the importance and priority of each category through the quantitative survey of Korean accelerators. The research that elicited the accelerator-type investment determinants is the first research and is expected to be a major reference to the progress of subsequent studies. This research that systematically derived the investment determinants of the accelerator is expected to make major contributions to the progress of follow-up studies, the process of selecting startups, and the investment decision-making process of the accelerators.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.85-92
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• 2014

In recent years, the government has pushed ahead with the convergence and innovation of science technology and information technology in order to realize the creative economy. So, a creative economy ecosystem has been set up to realize the creative economy for small businesses growth and small business happiness. According to proliferation of mobile area taking the lead in the recent IT transition, development of various convergence technologies related to mobile such as mobile Apps, SNS, and big data have been promoted. For realizing government's creative economy, systematic raising plan to create newly value-added market and occupation being considered with developing technology for mobile convergence based on imagination and creativity of small businesses is proposed in this paper.