APEC Project Database

Project Title

APEC Start-Up Conference

Project Year

2011

Project Number

SME 2

Project Session

Session 3

Project Type

Standard

Project Status

Completed Project

Project No.

SME 09 2011A

Project Title

APEC Start-Up Conference

Project Status

Completed Project

Fund Account

APEC Support Fund

Sub-fund

ASF: General Fund

Project Year

2011

Project Session

Session 3

APEC Funding

108,330

Co-funding Amount

59,500

Total Project Value

167,830

Sponsoring Forum

Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group (SMEWG)

Topics

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Committee

SOM Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE)

Other Fora Involved

Not Applicable / Other

Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved

Not Applicable

Proposing Economy(ies)

Korea

Co-Sponsoring Economies

Malaysia; Chinese Taipei; United States

Expected Start Date

30/11/2011

Expected Completion Date

31/12/2012

Project Proponent Name 1

Jung Bae PARK

Job Title 1

General Manager

Organization 1

Small and medium Business Corporation

Telephone 1

+82 2 769 6702

Email 1

harim82@sbc.or.kr

Project Proponent Name 2

Mr. Kun Bok LEE

Job Title 2

Not Applicable

Organization 2

Not Applicable

Telephone 2

Not Applicable

Email 2

kunlee64@sbc.or.kr

Declaration

Not Applicable

Project Summary

Many nations around the world are struggling with high unemployment and sluggish job markets. Start-ups can provide the best solution to tackle these sluggish job markets by creating new jobs. However, small start-ups have sharply declined. In an effort to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial start-ups, a number of support policies have been developed and pursued to encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups. However, most of APEC economies still lag behind in terms of entrepreneurship, start-up knowledge, training systems, and support policies. This project aims to host the APEC Start-up Conference with a view to facilitating entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial start-ups in the region. The two-day conference in June 2012 will bring together start-up policymakers, experts and entrepreneurs from member economies in Seoul, providing a venue to share and benchmark invaluable knowhow, policies, and success cases. The project will greatly contribute to improving start-up support programs as well as encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation capacity and increase the number of good jobs available in the economy.

Relevance

The global economy is struggling with sluggish job market and high unemployment, most notably among the young population. After all, the recent “Occupy Wall Street” protest phenomenon is mostly about the insufficient number of decent jobs for young people.

The weak job market can be stimulated by start-ups, which create jobs and inject vitality into the economy. As things stand, however, small start-ups have sharply declined over the years. Many young people simply fear risk and stay from entrepreneurship.

The significant decline of youth start-ups has also exacerbated the ageing problem of executives in small businesses. As a matter of fact, ageing executives put pressure on the corporate ecosystem. They negatively affect entrepreneurship and may lead to business closures lacking an heir to inherit the business.

Indeed, job creation has been a high priority for APEC economies as well. At the “APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade and SMEs” in May 2011, ministers recognized the significance of entrepreneurial SMEs in economic growth and job creation.

APEC SME Ministers at the SMEMM 2011 stressed the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship to achieve APEC Growth Strategy and commended the Champion Economies for their guidance and support.

As one of the champion economies of the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Area, Korea will significantly contribute to cultivating innovative entrepreneurs in APEC. The upcoming Start-up Conference will provide a rare opportunity to take a closer look at where other member economies stand and learn from them. “Start-up APEC network” created from this conference will serve as a solid basis for collaboration to support continuous economic development and growth. Stronger network and partnership is another expected outcome of the conference.

Objectives

- To share best practices and policies to promote capacity building of entrepreneurs
in APEC region

- To help develop start-up support policies and programs tailored to each economy
that will lead to entrepreneurship- friendly environment

- To provide opportunity to create multinational start-ups; collaborative support
systems to identify and cultivate multinational start-up

Alignment

Beneficiaries and Outputs

Direct beneficiaries of the project include would-be entrepreneurs, SME entrepreneurs, and start-up policymakers. As the global economic crisis is still grave, entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a viable option to overcome the economic crisis and penetrate into global markets. The awareness that we need to spread entrepreneurship across the society as a whole is on the rise as well. To encourage policy development efforts, a session to share and compare start-up promotion policies on various topics for policymakers is planned.

For start-up entrepreneurs, successful CEOs from around the world are invited to share their experiences and success know-how. The meeting is expected to minimize risk factors and maximize their change of success. And entrepreneurs will be able to form industry sector networks to lay a foundation for cooperation.

Dissemination

All project outputs will be compiled electronically. After completion, a participant survey will be conducted for the evaluation of project implementation and mission accomplishment.

All project outputs are stored on the APEC SME Innovation Center Website in the electronic form. Video and audio clips will also be made available to all members, creating continuous publicity. They are expected to serve as a resource to regional entrepreneurs on how entrepreneurship serves as a critical vehicle for growth.

Gender

When inviting speakers, we will strive to invite specialists and policymakers who deal with issues concerning female entrepreneurs. In many APEC economies, women’s participation in society is significantly low. As such, promotion of entrepreneurship among the female population in APEC countries will have a great impact on APEC economies since more women will be encouraged to join the ranks.

The project will invite female entrepreneurs, providing a networking opportunity for female entrepreneurs and policymakers. These opportunities are expected to motivate would-be female participants and entrepreneurs, facilitating their deeper and wider engagement in business and associated networks.

Work Plan

The project aims to hold a two-day conference in June 2012. The invitees will include policymakers, start-up entrepreneurs, outstanding scholars and consultants from member economies.

The project will ultimately benefit future start-up entrepreneurs in APEC member economies. They will reap comprehensive benefits from the improved start-up policies and start-up friendly environments.

[Timeline Table]

Timeline	Description	Output
January	Ÿ Conference details planned: venue, program, and schedule. - Set requirements, timetables and schedules for the APEC Start-Up Conference. - Analyze start-up issues of member economies and organize agenda of the issues. - A taskforce team on the APEC start-up report preparation is formed, which will be led by Korea.	-Task Force Team formed - Detailed Agenda
February	Ÿ Invitations sent to recommended participants and speakers through the focal point of APEC member economies. - Invitations are sent to participants and speakers. - Request of APEC funding to cover travel expenses and per diem for participants and speakers.	Participant and speaker list
March	Ÿ The conference announced on the APEC SMEIC website and the APEC start-up conference webpage.	Conference webpage
April ~ May	Ÿ Participants submit presentation scripts and come up with a couple of issues to discuss at the conference. - Confirmation of presentation script submissions - Conference publications(brochures/leaflets) Ÿ Publicity and publication distribution - Publication distribution and request to relevant organizations for cooperation Ÿ The announcement also is to be made at the 34^th APEC SMEWG Meeting in Brunei Darussalam	Compilation of presentation materials
June	Ÿ A two-day conference is held. On day 1, entrepreneurs and policymakers are invited to share success cases. On day 2, member economies report start-up support policies and experiences. Collaborative measures are discussed as a way to facilitate start-up enterprises in APEC region.	Conference held
July	Ÿ A project evaluation report submitted to the APEC Secretariat.	Conference Report (submitted to APEC secretariat)
August	Ÿ The start-up support policies and success cases addressed at the conference will be reported at the APEC SMEWG Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia. Start-up support policies and success cases will be shared through the APEC SMEIC websites.	Conference Report (submitted to APEC SME Ministers)

Risks

· Duplication of work of other APEC and non-APEC fora

- Many nations around the world are exploring new growth engines to tackle the on-going global recession and economic crisis. Amid this backdrop, entrepreneurship has attracted increasing attention and a number of researches and conferences followed on SMEs and start-ups.

To help avoid duplication, we plan to investigate the agendas and programs of national and international conference by December 2011 before formulating the conference agenda and program.

- Most of international conferences on SME and entrepreneurship, where renowned speakers are invited from business and academic circles, take a theoretical and broad approach. Usually they fall short of providing hands-on start-up knowhow and professional networking opportunities. In contrast, the project will invite working-level policymakers and entrepreneurs to deliver more practical, hands-on knowledge and knowhow associated with start-ups.

- The project goes beyond serving as a discussion venue for APEC member economies. It seeks to promote entrepreneurship as a new growth engine by facilitating fruitful discussions on policies, training and case studies associated with SME and start-ups, with a view to developing transnational strategies for entrepreneurship.

· Delays or untimely preparation

- The conference is scheduled for June 2012. The confirmed participant list will be compiled by February, and the conference announcement may begin from March 2012. The preparation schedule is a step-by-step process with specific timelines that include critical milestones such as the submission of an evaluation report. The comprehensive event schedule and conference program shall be completed by December 2011 for future implementation. To ensure periodic stocktaking, a progress report is drawn up every other week and regularly scheduled meetings occur every four weeks. The step-by-step planning is expected to facilitate the smooth implementation of the conference.

Monitoring and Evaluation

· Monitoring:

To ensure the efficient implementation of the conference, all professionals involved are assigned a specific set of responsibilities. The roles and responsibilities of each team member are communicated to the other team members in order to facilitate fast and immediate cooperation. A leader will be assigned to each group with common roles and responsibilities for continuous monitoring of the progress, and he or she will share the results with other professionals and the project overseer. All professionals report progress to the project overseer. The project overseer, in turn, provides new ideas and input on the direction and conducts periodic monitoring.

· Evaluation Methods

The project is evaluated by the following criteria.

Conference publicity and participation: the number of participants and webpage visitors

The number of conference participants and the number of visitors to the conference webpage will be counted to determine the participation rate and publicity success.

Assessment of Program: participant satisfaction survey

Participants are asked to evaluate the conference in terms of program, agenda, and speakers.

Assessment of operation: evaluation of the conference operation

The operation aspect of the conference is evaluated in a post-conference operations committee meeting.

The information collected is meticulously analyzed to measure conference effectiveness, and the assessment results are published on the website by August 2012 to be shared with APEC member economies.

Linkages

Engagement:

At the conference, a wide variety of stakeholders will be engaged. Start-up promotion institutions possessing expertise in entrepreneurship promotion will be invited to share knowhow in promoting successful start-ups. Also, successful entrepreneurs will be invited to share their success stories with entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. The aim is not only sharing knowledge but also laying a foundation for working-level officials and entrepreneurs to build sector-specific networks and cooperate on a consistent basis.

Also, we will ask that the APEC HRD Working Group actively engage in implementing the program and ask ABAC members to share their success cases with entrepreneurs in APEC economies.

Previous Work:

Recently, the Malaysian Young Entrepreneurs’ Summit in October 2011 (“Seminar on Developing Business Value Proposition through Innovation for Young Entrepreneurs”) focused on promoting young entrepreneurs. As many nations including Korea enter into an aged society, a more comprehensive approach is needed that includes diverse age groups. In many Asian economies, continued economic activity of the 50-plus age group has long emerged as a priority on the national agenda.

We also need to expand our horizons and go beyond the usual “youth” group when we look into the start-up issue. More diverse viewpoints can be adopted, including technology start-ups, service start-ups, in-house venture projects, social entrepreneurships, and global entrepreneurships, among others. Put into perspective, the conference plans to invite a wide range of experts, entrepreneurs and policymakers who can share their expertise in their own fields.

APEC’s Comparative Advantage:

Entrepreneurship and start-up business conferences have been around for quite a while, especially in advanced nations. They have stable economies with well-established programs, making such nations less concerned and perhaps less flexible regarding the development of early-stage start-up businesses.

In contrast, most APEC member economies are developing nations with less rigid economic structures. That, coupled with dramatic economic growth rates, drives the governments of APEC to promote entrepreneurship and facilitate start-up businesses in a wide variety of innovative sectors.

Their enthusiasm will significantly contribute to improving entrepreneurship and start-up initiatives of member economies, if various start-up business policies and sophisticated knowhow of member economies are shared. It would also provide a solid groundwork for cooperation, so that businesses of member economies can grow into multinational enterprises.

Sustainability

The project will seek to strengthen cooperative ties among start-up CEOs, academic scholars and researchers, and APEC SME policymakers. The APEC Start-up Conference is planned for June. The best practices and various government policies would be shared for the purpose of accelerating start-up business cooperation potential and advancing start-up supporting policies. The best practices and other outputs will be published on the APEC SME Innovation Center website.

The direct project beneficiaries would be start-up entrepreneurs and SME policymakers in the APEC region. The Start-up Conference would provide them with valuable information on start-up policies and best practices. The information would also help them in monitoring start-up business environments and developing support policies conducive to start-up business. In addition, the end beneficiaries could be the start-up business of member economies. They would be able to reap the fruits in the form of start-up business friendly environment and effective government support policies.

After member economies taste the benefit of start-up supporting policies, the demand for best practices for start-ups is expected to increase, creating demand for another round of start-up conference sharing and exchange of experience. The research result from the project will reduce cost of subsequent meetings as a ready-made template for exchange of policy framework and start-up business action plans. It would also be possible to use web seminars for subsequent meetings and follow-up of start-up conference to minimize the cost for future exchange among member economies.

Finally, the APEC SME Innovation Center will continue to communicate success stories in Korea and other contributing member economies, using its own resource such as web sites and newsletters to stimulate interest and demand in start-up business and entrepreneurship.

Direct Labour

Not Applicable

Are there any supporting document attached?

Project No.
Project Title
Project Status
Fund Account
Sub-fund
Project Year
Project Session
APEC Funding
Co-funding Amount
Total Project Value
Sponsoring Forum
Topics
Committee
Other Fora Involved
Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved
Proposing Economy(ies)
Co-Sponsoring Economies
Expected Start Date
Expected Completion Date
Project Proponent Name 1
Job Title 1
Organization 1
Telephone 1
Email 1
Project Proponent Name 2
Job Title 2
Organization 2
Telephone 2
Email 2
Declaration
Project Summary
Relevance
Objectives
Alignment
Beneficiaries and Outputs
Dissemination
Gender
Work Plan
Risks
Monitoring and Evaluation
Linkages
Sustainability
Direct Labour
Are there any supporting document attached?
hdFldAdmin
Project Number
Previous Fora
Secretariat Comments
Reprogramming Notes
Consolidated QAF
Endorsement By Fora
PD Sign Off
Batch
Forum Priority
Committee Ranking Category
Committee Priority
PDM Priority
Priority Within Funding Category
Monitoring Report Received
Completion Report Received
PMU Field 1
PMU Field 2
PMU Field 3
On Behalf Of
Proposal Status
Originating Sub-Forum
Approval Status
Attachments

Content Type: Standard Proposal