Press

Underdogs, a startup education specialist, and Startup Recipe have jointly produced and unveiled the 'Local Creator Ecosystem Report,' which comprehensively examines the current ecosystem of local creators. Unlike startups defined by official institutions such as the Startup Promotion Agency, the 'Local Creator Ecosystem Report' was created to consolidate information about the startup ecosystem that is currently thriving under various names and meanings, including regional entrepreneurs, regional activists, and regional innovators. In line with this purpose, the report comprises the definition and discussion of local creators, types and classification of local creators, domestic and international local creator trends, overseas local creator and local business cases, domestic local creator discovery and nurturing policies, various institutions, companies, and investment firms engaged in local creator development and investment, and practical local startup insights. According to the report, representative keywords describing local creators include coexistence and community, regional regeneration and problem-solving, and lifestyle. Additionally, the pre-startup experience of local creators differed from traditional venture founders, with backgrounds in culture and arts, tourism and F&B sectors, and design, rather than the startup-focused experience of conventional venture entrepreneurs. Notable local creator ecosystem development project cases demonstrating these characteristics include Localize Gunsan, Join Jeongeup Project, and Next Local Project. International cases featured include the 'Hackney Cooperative' in London, UK, 'La Tofu' in Quebec, Canada, 'Zenkoji Monzen-machi' in Japan, and Barcelona 22@ Urban Innovation District in Spain. Sangrae Jo, CEO of Underdogs, emphasized the importance of the local startup ecosystem, stating, "The reason interest in the local startup ecosystem is important is that discovering and nurturing entrepreneurs in local areas is one way to respond to regional depopulation," and added, "Underdogs continues to provide various education and support for the corporatization of local small businesses and strengthening brand capabilities." Seokwon Lee, CEO of Startup Recipe, said, "Local creators are becoming part of economic and cultural value beyond simply limited regions or concepts," and added, "This will be an opportunity to comprehensively examine the definition, types, related trends, domestic and international cases, and domestic nurturing policies of local creators together with Underdogs, which has successfully activated regional ecosystems like Localize Gunsan."