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  Seoul selected as one of 10 best startup cities

  등록일 2022-06-17 글쓴이 seoulsolution

  SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, June 15, 2022 – Seoul was selected as the 10th best startup city in the world. This is the highest rank for Seoul on record, and Seoul’s ecosystem value was estimated to reach 223 trillion won ($177 billion). Startup Genome, a global startup ecosystem evaluation agency located in the U.S., released the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 on Tuesday, June 14 (local time in London). Seoul ranked among the top 10 cities around the world, rising 6 spots after having recorded 16th last year. It was announced during the Elevating Founders program at London Tech Week at 11 am, local time in London. Seoul entering the global top 10 cities is a proof that Seoul has a world-class startup ecosystem. Seoul was lower than the top 30 in 2019, and then rose to 20th in 2020 and to 16th in 2021, continuing its record growth. Seoul’s ecosystem value went up from 47 trillion won in 2020 to 54 trillion won in 2021 and to 223 trillion won this year, more than quadrupling over the past two years. The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 evaluates and analyzes a total of six success factors. Seoul was evaluated excellent (7 points and higher) in Funding (9), Knowledge (8), Performance (7), Connectedness (7), and Experience and Talent (7), and averaged (5 points) in Market reach. In particular, Startup Genome said that large-scale exits contributed greatly to increasing Seoul’s startup ecosystem value, and that the early-stage funding in Seoul recorded significant growth. Five large-scale exit cases, including Coupang, greatly increased Seoul’s startup ecosystem value (54 trillion won in 2021 to 223 trillion won in 2022). Seoul saw improved early-stage funding, ranking first in the Funding success factor among all Asian cities, surpassing both Beijing and Tokyo. Seoul’s active and aggressive overseas investment attraction centered on ‘Invest Seoul’, a foreign investment promotion agency. Bold startup policies to foster innovative companies contributed to the growth potential of the startup ecosystem by creating startup bases such as Yeouido (fintech), Hongneung (bio, medical), and Yangjae (AI). The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 selected AI & Big Data and Analytics, Life Sciences, and Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics as Seoul’s sub-sector strengths. The top 5 global startup ecosystems were as follows: Silicon Valley (US) ranked first, New York (US) and London (UK) tied for second, Boston (US) fourth, and Beijing (China) fifth. The top 3 cities are the same as last year, and the fourth and the fifth cities changed places this year. Among the global top 20 cities, five including Seoul are in Asian countries. Beijing (5th), Shanghai (8th), Seoul (10th), Tokyo (12th), and Singapore (18th). Beijing fell from 4th to 5th, and Tokyo fell from 9th to 12th. Seoul’s place in the top 10 global startup ecosystems for the first time is a result of Seoul’s continuous efforts to create an innovative startup environment and cooperative efforts by participants and Seoul will continue to build a startup ecosystem by fostering future talents, create a welcoming environment for investors, and support promising companies’ overseas market expansion to create 40 global unicorns with the goal of making Seoul one of top 5 economies by 2030.

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  Ttareungi ridership spikes by 138.3% YoY

  등록일 2022-06-23 글쓴이 seoulsolution

  The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) recently conducted an analysis of Ttareungi ridership and data showed that the number of rentals from January to May 2022 was 14.14 million, which is an increase by 138.3% compared to 10.22 million over the same period last year. It seems that this resulted from the city’s more efficient redistribution of Ttareungi bikes and rental stations according to ridership demand.   The city divided rental stations into two categories of high preference and low preference, and selected rental stations for concentrated management since March. Just two months into the implementation of concentrated management, the number of bikes available on the spot surged, which led to the rise in ridership. The city selected a total of 47 rental stations for its concentrated management, assigning one to two stations for each distribution team to address the unbalanced distribution of bikes among rental stations. Since March, the distribution teams have preemptively been dispatching bikes at high-demand rental stations before rush hour. The city has plans to further improve its public bike share service and infrastructure. It is promoting not only quantitative expansion of public bikes, but also qualitative improvement of its service by upgrading its infrastructure. This year again, the city will carry out various policies for citizens to use Ttareungi safely and conveniently, including rolling out new Ttareungi bikes, installing rental stations close to each other, conducting concentrated management of rental stations, and offering bike safety education programs. Factors that have influenced the spike in Ttareungi ridership are attributable to the post-pandemic lifting of social distancing and the return to normalcy as well as the influx of international tourists visiting Seoul. Seoul will do its best to create a safe and convenient environment for citizens of all ages to ride Ttareungi bikes—from adolescents to young adults and middle-aged riders—for both leisure and commute.  

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  Easy-to-recycle tethered bottle caps for Arisu bottled water

  등록일 2022-06-17 글쓴이 seoulsolution

  The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has revamped the design and packaging of its Arisu bottled water, which is stockpiled and supplied by the city in case of water shortages and natural disasters, by introducing easy-to-recycle tethered bottle caps and eco-friendly laser marking to increase the convenience of separating and disposing bottles.   The advantage of the newly designed eco-friendly bottle caps on Arisu water bottles is that they are tethered so that caps can be disposed either together on or separately off the bottles, which is expected to maximize the recycling rate. Moreover, the water bottles apply eco-friendly laser marking the (i.e. best by/mfg. date) without using ink, which will enhance the quality of its recycled raw materials as no dye is used for the caps. This is another eco-friendly effort to maximize the convenience of recycling PET bottles following the release of label-free Arisu bottled water two year ago back in May 2020. This new tethered bottle cap design will be applied to all Arisu bottles starting in June. The newly designed tethered bottle caps can be reused repeatedly as they remain attached to the bottle once they are opened and can be removed from the bottle in its entirety just by pulling. This will reduce the rate of loose caps being sorted as general waste during the process of separating and collecting PET bottles, and increase the rate of recycling as quality raw materials by just closing the cap on bottles. Seoul recommends that citizens properly recycle the new Arisu bottled water in the same method as any other PET bottle by cleaning out the contents, reducing the size, and closing the cap. Attachment 1 Eco-friendly Arisu water bottles and tethered caps

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  Record low PM2.5 levels in Seoul

  등록일 2022-06-15 글쓴이 seoulsolution

  The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) confirmed that the city’s PM2.5 levels hit a record low of 20 μg/m3. Ever since the city codified its urban air quality index and began recording PM2.5 levels, this spring saw the most number of good air quality days (under 15 μg/m3) at 36 days, and only 11 days exceeded bad air quality levels. The improvement of PM2.5 levels can be seen as the result of a complex ripple effect made by municipal policies, weather conditions, and international factors. Especially, it is analyzed that the city’s policies on particulate matter has gained incredible momentum, considering the long-term trend of particulate matter reduction. In particular, a record low measurement of 21 μg/m3 this past March when PM levels are usually at their highest is considered to have been impacted by the city’s enforcement of its seasonal PM management policy with strengthened reduction measures, such as increasing the PM reduction rate of large business sites and expanding the operation of street sweepers. Weather conditions this spring were generally similar or somewhat unfavorable to those of the last three years, but the number of days of air stagnation greatly decreased from 23 last year to 8 this year, which seems to have had favorable influence. Moreover, the city is taking its PM policies to prepare ozone policies in anticipation of high ozone levels this coming summer, focusing on reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which greatly impact ozone air pollution when released into the atmosphere. Seoul will respond with even more intensive control and management as it is expected that domestic and international emissions will most likely increase year over year due to the return to normalcy nationwide and worldwide, and it will do its best to protect citizens’ health through integrated management of ozone in summer and particulate matter in winter.