“Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX) is a survival issue, not a choice. Start-ups should be at the center of that.”
Lee Se-young, president of the Creation AI Startup Association and CEO of Rutton Technologies (photo), said at the “Korea-Japan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Startup Meetup Day” held at the Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB) in Japan on the 20th, “Startups are the ones who can provide practical answers the fastest when large companies and the government are thinking about AX.”
The event was co-hosted by the Generative AI Startup Association, the Tokyo office of the Small and Medium Venture Business Corporation, and Z Venture Capital (ZVC), a Japanese venture investment company.
It is the first AI exchange and cooperation at the private level amid growing interest in shuttle diplomacy between the two countries in the wake of the recent Korea-Japan summit.
Chairman Lee stressed that South Korea and Japan should move like “one market” to lead AI innovation. “Considering the market size, capital type, and speed of the US and China, there are many concerns about the AI ecosystem between Korea and Japan, but I think the crisis is an opportunity,” he said. “If South Korea and Japan solve common tasks first through AI, they can become countries that lead the AI era beyond just surviving.” In particular, he cited aging as a common task between Korea and Japan and predicted that aging could paradoxically be an opportunity to accelerate rapid innovation.
Lim Jung-wook, CEO of Startup Alliance, said, “In order not to be swayed by big tech in the U.S. and China, cooperation between Korean and Japanese tech startups is very important. Korea and Japan, which share educated talent, language from similar cultures, similar working culture, and strong manufacturing base, can create a great synergy effect.” Although Japan has a smaller venture investment than the global one and has lagged behind in global competition, Japan has also been rapidly expanding its introduction of AI since last year.
“The Japanese government has recently officially announced that it will focus on physical AI,” said Masaki Yuda, a ZVC partner. “Japan’s industrial structure, which has strengths in manufacturing including automobiles, is the background of this judgment.”
[Tokyo reporter Ahn Sun-je]
