OCE’s Discovery 2017 kicked off to a great start this weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.  As Canada’s leading innovation-to-commercialization conference, there were many key players from industry, academia, government, the investment community as well as entrepreneurs and students pursuing collaboration opportunities.

Last year, Discovery saw an attendance of over 3,400 attendees and more than 500 exhibitors, showcasing leading-edge technologies, best practices and research from sectors such as health, manufacturing, digital media and cleantech, including energy, environment and water. It is expected that 2017 will see a crowd of a similar scope with renowned keynote speakers such as John Cohen, CEO of Jigsaw, formerly Google Ideas, and Gina McCarthy, Head of EPA under President Obama.

This year, in support with the Gyeonggi CCI and GBSA, 10 Korean tech startups were invited by KOTRA Toronto to participate at OCE’s Discovery 2017. The Korean Startups held a prominent section within the two day expo to introduce their companies and ideas to the event attendees. KIGA Labs’ Jae Chong attended the forum as an advisor to the Korean startup representatives as they met with industry experts, possible buyers, investors and tech talents in Ontario. Partner and Managing Director Jae Chong also invited the Ontario Ministry of Research Innovation and Science to visit the Korean startups booths. Including was His Honourable Dr. Reza Moridi, Minister of Research Innovation and Science of Ontario, who gave a personal visit to the Korean tech hub at Discovery 2017.

With support from the Korea Venture Business Association (KOVA) and collaboration between the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency (SNIP), KigaLabs and IPFrontier, the 4th Investment Road Show was held in Seongnam City, South Korea.
KigaLabs Toronto, as well as members of KigaLabs Beijing, France, Boston and Seoul were invited to provide mentoring to growing startups in Seongnam City. Industry specific mentoring from each KigaLab chapters were given to the various delegates from Korea participating the event, as KigaLabs Toronto focused giving professional advice to startups in the tech industry.

Attending as part of Ontario’s 2016 trade mission to the Republic of Korea, Principal Consultant of Avantis International in Toronto, Jae Chong met with Premier Kathleen Wynne. The Premier of Ontario led the trade mission with delegates from Ontario to showcase what Ontario businesses had to offer, from the automobile, information communication technology, advanced manufacturing to life sciences sectors.

Throughout the mission, Ontario delegates announced and signed 13 agreements valued at about $120 million with South Korean companies.The enhanced business relationships is said to create an estimated 426 jobs and strengthen Ontario’s economy.

As part of the Global Venture Week 2016, tech delegates from Korea participated in Keiretsu Forum Central Canada’s October 2016 Angel Capital Expo. The Keiretsu’s event was Toronto’s biggest event of the year by the world’s largest Angel Investor Network. With over 125 Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, Fund Managers and government sectors present the Keirutsu Expo boasted an exceptional networking opportunity to the 30+ early stage companies, 60+ entrepreneurs and service providers.

Brought over by the Korea Venture Business Association (KOVA) sponsored event, the Korean delegation of 20 companies were individually featured by KigaLabs Toronto and brought significant interest to the delegates. The expo gave the opportunity to the delegates a chance to present their companies to the Canadian market. Investing opportunities, market research and awareness of the Korean delegates brought in high interest and attention within Keiretsu and its members.

As part of the Global Venture Week 2016, 16 tech delegates from Korea along with KigaLabs Toronto held the 2nd Canada-Korea Startup Venture Forum in Toronto. The full day event held at the Ritz-Carlton Toronto featured sector specific presentation pitches, a demo-day showcase, a networking reception and dinner.

The forum ran by KigaLabs, sponsored and collaborated with the Korea Venture Business Association (KOVA) and the International Network of Korean Entrepreneurs (INKE), invited over 150 businessmen and businesswomen of Toronto’s tech industry. The presentations allowed the 16 Korean delegates, trained and mentored through the Global Venture Week 2016, pitch their product and company to investors and industry leaders of Toronto. The demo-day gave the opportunity for 1-on-1 meetings and IR meetings for the delegates. The networking reception and dinner was held to give further awareness for the Korean start-ups entry and willingness to soft land in the Toronto’s tech market.

The Canada-Korea Venture Forum allowed the 16 Korean delegates develop direct relationship with Toronto businesses and an opportunity for cooperation for future projects.

As a collaboration project between KIGALabs and KEF (Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation), a one week Global Entrepreneurship program was completed on February 2, 2016 in Toronto, Canada.

15 delegations from Korea attended the program and visited a number of startup ecosystems such as Ontario Centres of Excellence, MaRS, Communitech, and DMZ. They also visited professional support organizations such as PwC Law, Glowlings, Schulich School of Business, University of Toronto and Ontario Investment and Trade Centre.

Sungnam Industry Promotion Agency appointed Jae Chong and Steve Cho of Avantis International as Export Specialists for their Global Export Network Development Project.