Seoul Hosts 5th Women Entrepreneurs Week on AI Innovation

Innovative women entrepreneurs keenly capture everyday inconveniences and the trends of the times, and solve those problems with technology such as AI. We recognize today the strength of Korea's women entrepreneurs, and look forward to a larger future.

With an opening address by Park Chang-suk, head of the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association, the 5th Women Entrepreneurs Week kicked off on the 1st at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul.

It is the fifth year of Women Entrepreneurs Week (WEW) , which is the largest festival and official event in the country for women entrepreneurs who made a significant impact on the country's economic growth. It was co-organized by five major women's economic groups, including the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association, Korea Women Venture Association, Korea Women Inventors Association, Korea IT Women Entrepreneurs Association and Korea Federation of Women's Science and Technology Associations, with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups as a host.

More than 500 people attended the opening ceremony, with women business leaders from all over the country, representative organizations of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, officials of SMEs associations and groups and key personalities from the political and business world, affirming the ambition and desire of the women entrepreneurs to promote innovation and growth.

Key Highlights:

• 5th Women Entrepreneurs Week opened in Seoul
• AI and femtech innovations were showcased
• Outstanding women entrepreneurs received national awards

The National Assembly's Cho Jeong-sik, deputy speaker Nam In-soon, and lawmakers Na Kyung-won, Lee In-seon, Oh Se-hee, Park Sung-joon and Park So-young attended the National Assembly. The government representatives present included Lee Byeong-gweon, second vice minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), Lee Dal-gon, chairperson of the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership and Kim Jin-oh, vice chairperson of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy.

Samsung Electronics President Park Seunghee was one of the attendees from the business community. Samsung Electronics, a large corporate member of the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership, has been implementing different win-win programs such as providing support for establishing a smart factory based on its partners.

Meanwhile, as Park is in attendance for the Women Entrepreneurs Week event, it will be important to see if Samsung Electronics can extend its current win-win programs to expand its partnerships with women entrepreneurs and enhance the co-prosperity ecosystem.

Special speeches by women entrepreneurs who were the first to tap into new markets and develop and launch innovative technologies like AI were the highlight of the opening ceremony.

Shin Hyun-jin, CEO of AI-based multilingual dubbing solutions company HudsonAI, shared examples of how AI dubbing is being used to create more K-content overseas and introduced technological innovations that eliminate the language barrier in the content industry. Kim Hyo-yi, the CEO of Innercia, a femtech start-up, explained that women's experience can be a new opportunity in future industries like femtech, as Innercia's sanitary pad was developed based on a patented plant-derived absorbent, which took her company only three years to reach annual sales of 19.4 billion won.

Prizes were also awarded to women entrepreneurs for their outstanding efforts. Kim Yeon-seon, president of Daehan OK Steel, was awarded the Order of Industrial Service Merit, Gold Tower, and Hanmandu Food CEO Nam Mi-kyung, an agricultural company, an Order of Industrial Service Merit, Silver Tower.

CEOKim Yeon-seon was honored for his 47-year-long career in the steel sector, establishing manufacturing facilities and for his efforts in developing quality employment opportunities through expertise on manufacturing and distribution of cold-rolled steel products. The CEO, Nam Mi-kyung, received a high accolade for developing new market segments for the frozen dumpling market with differentiated products like galbi dumplings and web-foot octopus dumplings and also for building a family-friendly corporate culture.

Lee Byeong-gweon, the second vice minister at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "The more advanced technology becomes, the more the ability to read others' emotions carefully and communicate will become the final competitiveness of corporations," adding, "We will listen closely to voices on the ground and provide robust support so that women entrepreneurs with strong technological capabilities and empathetic leadership can lead new trends and realize their dreams."

The 5th Women Entrepreneurs Week will also see a policy forum, an awards ceremony for the women's startup competition and an MD consultation for improving market access capabilities of women entrepreneurs throughout the week during the opening ceremony. Furthermore, an online joint recruitment centre for women entrepreneurs and an online win-win special exhibition for good products by women entrepreneurs will be held during the month of July and Women Entrepreneurs Week celebrations will be continued by region.