The development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem takes a long time to consolidate, and there are very diverse factors that affect it. In the case of East Asia, the three main countries in this area (China, Japan and South Korea) start from different scenarios, but they have in common their great innovative capacity, a consolidated work culture and the existence of large companies with a important technological capacity.
Asia concentrated 2020% of the world's middle classes in 54, according to the Brookings Institution, and it is expected that in 2020 this percentage will rise to 2030%. Therefore, there is a significant shift in global consumption capacity to the region, and also in opportunities to generate new businesses. On the other hand, in the three countries analyzed, the use of technology is widely consolidated among the population at all levels, which facilitates the development of new entrepreneurial initiatives based on digitalization.
Due to the limited information available on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in East Asia in our country, the objective of this report is twofold. On the one hand, an attempt has been made to analyze the innovative and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the three countries, taking into account aspects such as their degree of development, the cultural factors that determine their progress, the public policies that have been carried out to encourage creation. and startup development, etc. On the other hand, and in a more practical way, the opportunities that foreign startups have to connect with said ecosystem are described, analyzing the main cities, incubators and accelerators, financing possibilities and other aspects.
Distance is obviously an obstacle when developing any type of project in the startup field. For example, less than 5% of Japanese venture capital is destined for Europe, while investment projects in Southeast Asia are numerous. However, for startups that are born global or that have a product or service that is necessary in China, Japan or South Korea, the business prospects in these countries are increasingly interesting. In any case, getting to know the ecosystems of East Asia can be inspiring and surprising, especially given the differences with Europe and the United States. The distance between the three countries analyzed is also notable, which is evident after reading the report.
Each country is analyzed by different authors, China corresponding to Claudio Feijoo, Laura Millán and Cristina Armuña, Japan to Amadeo Jensana and Guillermo Martínez-Taberner and South Korea to Jangmi Baek. At the end of the report a brief biographical summary of each of the authors is included.
