![No Yong-seok, first vice minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. [Ministry of SMEs and Startups]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/09/news-p.v1.20260107.64a291a94aa240dcb0947797eef219e2_P1.jpg)
South Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups is moving to strengthen startup cooperation with Singapore.
First Vice Minister No Yong-seok met with Cindy Koo, chief executive of Enterprise Singapore, at the Government Complex Sejong on Thursday to discuss ways to deepen startup ecosystem cooperation between the two countries. The meeting followed a bilateral session held during a state visit to Singapore in March.
The two sides plan to expand exchanges between their flagship startup events — Korea's COMEUP and Singapore's SWITCH — and broaden cooperation on entrepreneurship policy to strengthen ties between their global startup ecosystems.
Korea and Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding on small and medium-sized enterprise and startup cooperation in Singapore in 2018, in the presence of both countries' heads of state, and renewed the agreement in 2024 to sustain the partnership.
The two countries have consistently expanded the scope of their cooperation through mutual participation in flagship startup events such as COMEUP and SWITCH, and joint operation of accelerating programs and global funds to support startups seeking to expand overseas.
In March, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups met with Enterprise Singapore Chairman Lee Chuan Teck during the Singapore state visit to discuss strengthening a regional startup cooperation network centered on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Startup Alliance. Thursday's meeting aimed to give more concrete shape to those discussions.
No introduced several of Korea's startup support initiatives, including Startup Venture Campus Seoul — known as SVC Seoul — which opened this year, a startup support platform called "Startup for All," and a "Startup City Project" pursued in partnership with local governments. He also shared updates on the "Government First Purchase Project," which Singapore had expressed interest in at the previous meeting.
The Singapore side showed strong interest in Korea's startup policies and startup development system, according to officials. Both sides focused on ways to expand cooperation between COMEUP, Korea's largest startup event scheduled for December, and SWITCH, Singapore's flagship startup event. The aim is to strengthen ties between the two events and broaden opportunities for startups from both countries to expand overseas and attract investment.
"Singapore is a hub of Southeast Asia's financial industry and a country with world-class startup competitiveness," No said. "We will actively support efforts to further invigorate substantive exchanges between startups of the two countries, building on this meeting."
boo@heraldcorp.com
