SIIC-IIT Kanpur, Korea Startup Forum sign agreement to collaborate on technology development for Asian market

NEW DELHI: Startup incubation and innovation centre (SIIC) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has signed an agreement with Korea Startup Forum at the 'COME UP' startup festival.

The festival, organised in Seoul, South Korea this year, is one of the largest startup events in Asia having over 20,000 attendees in 2022. As apart of the collaboration, the agreement will provide opportunities for co-incubation and technology exchange to Korean startups. This is in line with the opportunities that the Indian domestic market offers for Korean startups to launch their products.

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Similarly, Indian Startups are also expected to benefit from Korean technology solutions and develop products for global customers. The agreement was signed between SIIC-IIT Kanpur, CEO, Nikhil Agarwal and Korea Startup Forum, CEO, Choi Sungjin. Agarwal extended an invitation to startups based in Korea to avail the incubation services at IIT Kanpur’s artificial intelligence- centre of excellence in Noida.

He also enlightened the audience about the rapidly evolving ecosystem at IITK and said: “Large Korean firms such as Hyundai, LG, and Samsung have a significant presence in India; our long association can potentially benefit the Korean and Indian startups in form of tech exchange, investments, and collaboration. Such collaborations will only strengthen our ties.”

Korea Startup Forum, CEO, Choi Sungjin expressed his aspirations for the partnership and said: “India is a hometown of qualified talents. I believe a lot of Indian talents will get a chance to work with promising startups carrying great growth potential. Also, many Indian startups can penetrate the Korean market to access venture capital as well as build various business collaborations with big corporates.”

IIT-K, innovation and incubation, professor-in-charge, Anuskh Sharma, said: “I extend a warm welcome to Korean Startups to ‘soft-launch’ their business in collaboration with SIIC, IIT Kanpur startups and add value to our cross border association. I am hopeful this MoU will not just strengthen our international association but also add positively to the startup ecosystem in both countries.”