South Summit heads to Asia for first time

MANILA, Philippines — The world’s biggest gathering of business startups heads to Asia for the first time this September, following its successful run at its Spain roots earlier this month.

South Summit, an event co-organized by Madrid-based IE University, will hold its 14th edition – and the first in Asia – in Gyeonggi, a province in South Korea, from Sept. 25 to 27, where the most disruptive and innovative startups from around the world in the fields of deep tech and artificial intelligence will be featured.

María Benjumea, president of IE University and founder of South Summit, acknowledged “the willingness of the South Korean delegation to connect the ecosystems of Europe and Asia through South Summit,” as well as South Korea’s “strong commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Prior to the event, a startup competition will select 30 top startups in terms of innovation and game-changing applications. Submissions will be open until July 24.

Throughout its 13 editions, South Summit’s startup competition has produced seven unicorns, generated more than 1,000 finalist startups with a survival rate of 90 percent and raised more than $15.9 billion in investments.

South Summit Korea will be “a verticalized event in deep tech and AI, two technologies that are already changing our lives and that are enjoying a great boost in South Korea,” Benjumea said.

Hyundae Kim, general director of the Future Growth Office of Gyeonggi province, said South Summit Korea “will be a good opportunity to show to the world the capabilities of Korean startups.”

“Thanks to this event, we hope that many of our entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to attract investors, enter overseas and become unicorns.”

South Summit is the global platform that brings together all the key players in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem to promote the development of business opportunities among all of them.

Its main event is South Summit Madrid, co-organized by IE University, which has been attended by more than 36,000 startups throughout its 13 editions,

The 13th edition of South Summit Madrid brought together more than 18,000 attendees from 133 different countries, including more than 6,500 entrepreneurs, more than 2,000 investors with an investment portfolio of more than $500 billion -$174 billion more than last year – and more than 6,000 representatives from companies and corporations around the world.

In addition, after passing through Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina, South Summit held its third edition in Brazil, also co-organized by IE University, last March. This edition brought together more than 23,500 attendees from 55 different countries, including more than 800 speakers, 3,000 startups, 900 investment funds, ready to support the best innovative ideas from all over the world thanks to a portfolio of $213 billion.