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| France's Minister of State for Digital Transition and Telecommunications Jean-Noel Barrot, front row third from left, poses with Korea's Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups Cho Ju-hyeon, front row fourth from left, and French Ambassador to Korea Philippe Lefort during the French Tech in Korea event at the ambassador's residence in central Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of SMEs and Startups |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
France's digital economy minister highlighted cooperation between Korean companies and French startups, as both countries share a focus on digital space and telecommunication, during his visit to Korea.
Jean-Noel Barrot, France's Minister of State for Digital Transition and Telecommunications, participated in the French Tech in Korea event at the French ambassador's residence in Seoul, Wednesday, emphasizing that "France is back" and saying how France has changed in recent years, becoming a country of startups.
"We have lowered taxes, we have softened regulations, we have reformed the labor market. And perhaps more importantly, we have created a new culture of entrepreneurship and startups," the minister said, adding that France now has a record-high number of startups and became one of the most attractive countries in Europe for foreign investment.
Barrot also presented France's ambitions for the next decade.
"The first objective we have is, after that we've been able to turn France into a startup nation, we want to show that we are able to turn France into a deep tech nation... The second objective is making tech more sustainable and using tech to overcome the challenges ahead from our green transition," he said.
"The third objective that we have for tech is to make it more diverse, make sure that we can bring the French society on board and make sure that everyone can benefit from this growth in the tech sector, in particular women who are not enough choosing tech as a career path today... So we need, as a country for justice as well as economic efficiency, to make sure that young girls, women at every point in their life can turn to the tech sector because there are great opportunities and we need them in order to boost our ecosystem."
The digital minister believes that France and Korea can benefit from growing together and have many similarities in their cultural identities and innovation traditions.
"We have a common view that tech should come with sovereignty, should come with authority and that we have the resources in our own countries to address some of the tech challenge for tomorrow," he said.
He added that Korea will be the Country of the Year for the VivaTech 2023, Europe's largest startup and tech event slated for June 14-17 in Paris.
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| French Minister of State for Digital Transition and Telecommunications Jean-Noel Barrot, left, shakes hands with Korean Vice Minister of Science and ICT Park Yun-kyu during their meeting at the French ambassador's residence in central Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT |
Cho Ju-hyeon, Korea's vice minister of SMEs and startups, recalled his visit to France where Korea has opened a K-Startup Center.
"In March, I visited Station F in Paris, the world's largest startup campus. I was extremely impressed to have the firsthand experience on France's innovative system for startups," he said.
"The ministry is making its utmost efforts to expand the cooperation between the two countries to a global stage level."
Barrot's visit to Seoul was accompanied with some 10 startups from France specializing in fields such as AI, biotech, food, green and quantum technologies, that pitched their companies during the French Tech event.
Korean and French firms also signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) during the event to elevate the bilateral partnerships. French space startup Exotrail and Korean satellite manufacturer Satrec Initiative will collaborate on developing an electric propulsion system, while French metaverse startup Aptero will work with Y-STAR Unit, a project co-organized by Yeungnam University and Gyeongsan City, North Gyeongsang Provnice, to provide immersive education experiences. Kyobo Life and French investment company Eurazeo vowed to collaborate on joint investment in European startups.
Barrot said he found more shared priorities between the two countries while he prepare the agreements.
"As we were preparing for this agreement with Korea, Korea expressed its priorities. One of the priorities met our own, which is to foster relationships between big corporates and startups," he said.
"So what we've seen today with the partnership, the concept is established companies like Kyobo and Lotte signing partnerships with French startups. From our discussions here that there's also potential for the things happening the other way around ― the Korean startups creating relationship with French corporates or establishing footprints in France."
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