Songdo International Business District is a great place for startups in Korea. It reflects Korea’s fast speed of economic development, building a Smart City from scratch on a reclaimed land. I remember visiting this place 10 years ago when I was with IBM preparing a proposal on U(Ubiquitous)-City project when there was nothing but barren land. It amazed me how such land changed to now so-called ‘Smart City’ with up-to-date IT infra, business offices and international educational facilities. 

Its location is about an hour drive from center of Seoul but still accessible by public transportation and multie freeways. Considering its heavy traffic to get from Gangnam(River South) to Gangbuk (River North) within Seoul during busy times, one can choose to live in Songdo with cheaper residential cost than Seoul with more space. 

Songdo could be an ideal place for startups with new business infrastructure and diverse groups of  people. It has a good mix of Koreans and foreigners represented by professional people from all over the world pursuing new business opportunities including many international students in Yonsei Univ and NYU campus in Global Campus. I imagine many college students could be good human resources to be the interns and employees for startups.

Lastly, I visited one of the young Christian churches called Lifespring which was led by Korean American pastor and was impressed by the interesting mix of people, energy and their passion. It was still a small community but represented by many countries from all over the world. Songdo in many aspects including the vision for the next generation. I would encourage global Startups to find new opportunities in Songdo, Korea to take advantage of the business infra, competitive human resources and to test the early products. Plus the city is beautiful with widescreen sky, artificial water canal and boat-ride place in Central Park surrounded by brand new apartments.