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Busan Accelerates Fostering and Investment Support for “Design and AI Convergence Companies” in Line with Its Status as World Design Capital

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon and Kang Pil-hyun, President of the Design Council Busan, announced that following Busan’s designation as the World Design Capital, the city is accelerating the creation of an ecosystem for design convergence companies.

The city aims to systematically foster innovative companies that integrate design and technology, expand investment linkage support, and establish a robust foundation for entry into the global market in alignment with Busan’s status as World Design Capital.

To this end, on September 23, Busan successfully hosted the “D-Tech Busan: Design Convergence Investment Demo Day (IR)” at Exhibition Hall 1 of BEXCO, Glocal Stage. The event provided practical investment attraction opportunities for design convergence companies, enhancing their investment capabilities and generating tangible results in investment linkage.

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Prior to the event, a comprehensive growth acceleration program was operated, including reconstruction of investment presentation materials, redesign of pitching decks, investment mentoring, company diagnostics, and consulting.
A total of 14 companies presented specialized IR pitches, with evaluation panels comprising investment experts from Seoul-based venture capital firms such as SV Investment, TS Investment, and Bluepoint Partners, as well as startup planners and accelerators.
One-on-one mentoring sessions, briefings, meetups, and deep reviews were conducted for in-depth investment discussions.

In addition, for the first time this year, the city launched the “Design Convergence Startup Fostering Project” and the “Design Innovation Support Project for Intelligent Information Technology Convergence Companies.” These strategic initiatives aim to strengthen Busan’s status as World Design Capital and to build an innovation ecosystem centered on design.

The Design Convergence Startup Fostering Project, which began in May, introduced a three-stage growth acceleration program supporting a total of 26 companies. In August, 11 companies were selected for commercialization and growth support.
Furthermore, two companies from outside the Busan region were attracted to shared offices*, contributing to expanding Busan’s investment base as the World Design Capital and enhancing global design capabilities.

(*Shared office attraction: two non-local companies—Small Action Co., Ltd. (Jeonnam) and Convil Design (Gyeongnam)—were newly located in Busan.)

The Design Innovation Support Project for Intelligent Information Technology Convergence Companies aims to create future market-leading business models by integrating design and intelligent information technology.
A total of 16 companies participated in design consulting, service and business model design, and training workshops, with nine excellent projects selected. Since September, four final companies have been chosen for focused commercialization and investment linkage support.

The city plans to establish a full-cycle growth support system encompassing technology, design, market, and investment to proactively respond to the rapidly changing design industry.
Through these efforts, Busan seeks to foster new design-based industries and build a solid foundation for local companies to advance into the global market.

Ko Mi-jin, Director General of the Future Design Headquarters, stated,
“The designation of Busan as the World Design Capital will serve as a major driving force to strengthen the international competitiveness of the regional design industry and to vitalize the innovation ecosystem. We will actively support innovative companies that combine technology and design to become future growth engines of Busan, striving to make Busan a hub city for design-based technology industries.”