Main session held at Asia Impact Investment Forum

100 leaders in Asian impact investment gather

Participants pose for a group photo at the 2026 Asia Impact Nights event. [Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation]
Participants pose for a group photo at the 2026 Asia Impact Nights event. [Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation]

The Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation said Friday it hosted a main session at "2026 Asia Impact Nights" (AIN 2026), held in Kobe, Japan, from Wednesday through Oct. 3, where it discussed the role of capital in sustainable social innovation and avenues for collaboration with leading figures in Asia's impact investment ecosystem.

This year's event centered on the theme "Asia's Triple Transition: From Risk to Opportunity," exploring ways to turn Asia's shared challenges — demographic shifts, the climate crisis and the AI transition — into new impact opportunities.

AIN is an Asia-wide impact investment forum that began in 2016 as an initiative by D3 Jubilee Partners to introduce impact investing to South Korea, marking its 10th anniversary this year. It has since expanded to include participants from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Southeast Asia, growing into a platform where investors, foundations, corporations, social innovators and ecosystem builders forge long-term relationships and trust. This year's event was co-hosted by South Korea's D3 Jubilee Partners and Japan's Social Innovation and Investment Foundation (SIIF), drawing 100 impact sector leaders from South Korea, Japan and across Asia, as well as from the United States, Europe and Australia.

Secretary General Choi Jae-ho of the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation presented the role of public-interest foundations in building social wealth during a session on "catalytic capital" on Thursday. Drawing on the distinction between capital and wealth, Choi said, "If capital is the means to reach a destination, then wealth is the destination we ultimately seek to arrive at," adding that the social role of a public-interest foundation lies in converting its assets into human and social capital to accumulate sustainable social wealth for future generations.

Choi also highlighted what he called the "gray zone" that social enterprises face after public support ends but before private investment takes hold in earnest, arguing that private foundations need to play a catalytic role by sharing the risk of early-stage failure during that interval. He further proposed a "public-philanthropic partnership" in which governments and private foundations share risk and promote social innovation to address complex challenges such as low birth rates, aging, regional depopulation and the climate crisis.

As a prime example of catalytic capital in action, Choi cited the foundation's CMK Impact-preneur program, which has contributed to building a social economy ecosystem. Since 2012, the foundation has identified and nurtured impact startups that tackle social problems through innovative business models and technology. Over the past 14 years, it has supported 374 companies, created 7,481 jobs and attracted a cumulative 377.9 billion won ($276 million) in investment.

Starting this year, the foundation has shifted the focus of its support from organizations to individual entrepreneurs, building a fellowship and ecosystem that allows social innovators to keep growing and take on new social challenges.

Also beginning this year, the foundation has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme to advance the CMK Global Impact-preneur program, which nurtures promising social innovators across the Asia-Pacific region. It is connecting the mentoring experience accumulated domestically with a global network to help participants grow and collaborate across borders.

"We will continue to broaden exchanges and cooperation with diverse partners — including foundations, impact investors, corporations and public institutions across Asia — and work to build an Asian social innovation ecosystem where innovators can keep pushing boundaries," a foundation official said.

Meanwhile, the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Foundation has also been actively identifying and nurturing talent across a range of fields, recently hosting the "2026 CMK Chamber Music Series" at the IBK Chamber Hall at Seoul Arts Center.

The CMK Chamber Music Series is part of CMK Young Arts, the foundation's classical music talent development program, and features performances in which scholarship recipients studying classical music take the stage alongside their faculty mentors.


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