Taeje Park
Chairman of the Directorate, Kickstart Asia
Taeje Park is the chairman of the Directorate of Kickstart Asia, an accredited accelerator that supports entrepreneurial ecosystems.
As a founding member of Kickstart, he has been responsible for business accelerating and venture investment in the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Korea and the UK for over 10 years since 2013.
In the advisory roles, he has served as an advisor for the Korean Ministry of Small Medium Enterprises and Startups, Korean Small Medium Business Administration, and Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity. Also, he has been appointed as a member of the National Unification Advisory Council by the President of the Republic of Korea over three regimes. In the UK, he serves as a mentoring advisor for GC Business Growth Hub and an adviser for The Entrepreneurs Network.
He has served as a judge for the Asian Student Venture Forum (ASVF) and the University Startup World Cup (USWC). Also, he has evaluated leading enterprises such as Samsung, LG, KT, POSCO and CJ as a judge in the Korea Multimedia Technology Awards and the Korea Mobile Technology Award, which have the highest national authority.
He has expertise in product service design and innovation and has judged and mentored thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups.
Most of all, Taeje is a passionate researcher in the field of entrepreneurial ecosystems and innovation policy, studying at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research. Before joining Manchester, he has participated as a co-author in the publication of a book on entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial ecosystem policy report funded by the Korean government. Also, he lectured on entrepreneurship as a lecturer at Chungnam National University, Incheon National University, and Hankyung National University, and was appointed as a professor at Gimpo University in Korea, where he was in charge of entrepreneurship ecosystem and innovation policy for three years.
In England he has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) and is actively involved in the Northern England community.
In accordance with the family tradition inherited from the scholar gentry class represented by Chiwon Park Yeonam regarded as the greatest scholar in Northeast Asia, Taeje also has been working in the academy and industry in order to uphold the prestigious philosophy and heritage.
Why do you support the work of The Entrepreneurs Network?
The Entrepreneurs Network , made up of experts and researchers in the UK entrepreneurial ecosystem, is a think tank that plays a key role in national entrepreneurship policy. It has contributed not only to policy research on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, but also to governance by the UK Government and Parliament to develop the UK into an innovative nation. In particular, the most important thing is to share and develop valuable practical and academic prospective on entrepreneurship and its ecosystem in this research group composed of the best experts in the UK. With the support of Philip Salter and colleagues who lead this academic network, I am honoured to be a part of The Entrepreneurs Network. Above all, I hope to contribute to entrepreneurial ecosystem policy in the UK with my experience and knowledge as a researcher.
What research should more people read?
The entrepreneurial ecosystem is the most complex and dynamic organism composed of various aspects such as culture, policy, finance, human resources, market, and support within the economy and industry. All these theoretical elements are important, but in principle the economy and industry exist on a basis of human interaction, referred to as social science.
Therefore, talent is one of the important elements that accompany the beginning and end of the entrepreneurial ecosystem flourishing. Research on talents that nurture entrepreneurs' capabilities for innovation will contribute to a developmental understanding of various industries and a dynamic approach. The Entrepreneurs Network has been actively conducting research on talents such as school education on entrepreneurship and support for startup capabilities, and has contributed to the establishment of entrepreneurial ecosystem policies based on this. As a scholar who studies the influence between entrepreneurial ecosystem elements and startup capabilities, I would like to recommend literatures and policy reports on talent to help understand the core parts of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Why is the UK an attractive place to grow a business?
The UK is home of entrepreneurship with a history dating back to the Age of Discovery. Building on the legacy of the bright and dark sides of the Industrial Revolution, the UK has driven leading momentum in social, sustainability, environmental and transformative innovation for hundreds of years in the globe. Thanks to this, despite the global economic downturn and unprecedented increase in volatility, the UK has maintained a stable and robust entrepreneurial ecosystem compared to the rest of the continent.
As an accelerator and scholar of innovation policy, I believe that the UK's entrepreneurial ecosystem provides a constructive direction for other countries struggling with limitations of economies of scale and static industrial structures. As an accelerator and scholar in the field of innovation policy, I believe that the UK's entrepreneurial ecosystem policy will provide other countries with a constructive direction to create a phased and sustainable innovative industry.