NextRise 2025 Held in Seoul, Asia's Leading Innovation Expo Co-hosted by KITA and KDB
- Germany, this year's featured country, dispatched official delegation; Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other key German corporates participated -
- VivaTech, IFA, and MWC executives gathered in Seoul, linking global innovation ecosystems -
- 30 global startups selected for the NextRise Awards; Mediwhale and UEL won Top Innovator prizes -
SEOUL, South Korea, July 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 26, 2025, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and Korea Development Bank (KDB) co-hosted NextRise 2025, Asia's premier innovation expo, at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul.
Marking its 7th edition, NextRise 2025 was held across the full COEX venue over two days (June 26–27), bringing together global investors and tech scouts in AI, mobility, sustainability, and healthcare. The event featured booth exhibitions, conferences, partner events, and one-on-one meetups, drawing over 20,000 entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world. The meetup program reached a record-breaking scale, with over 3,600 business consultations held between 250 large corporations and investors and 1,100 startups from 28 countries.
Germany, the featured country for this year, dispatched a 47-member official delegation led by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWK), including representatives from Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), German Accelerator, and 21 German startups. Germany operated a national pavilion and hosted forums and demo days throughout the event. Major German companies including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Beiersdorf, Deutsche Bahn, and Lufthansa also participated in seminars and meetups, seeking collaboration with Korean counterparts.
KITA used this opportunity to strengthen its global networks with major innovation expos and promote startup collaboration and innovation growth. For the first time in Korea, executives from the world's top innovation events—including François Bitouzet of Viva Technology (France), Leif Lindner of IFA (Germany), and Richard Ferraro of MWC (Spain)—gathered to meet with over 100 startups, corporates, and venture capitalists, discussing strategies for enhanced global cooperation across innovation ecosystems.
The highlight of the event, the 3rd NextRise Awards, received 702 applications, with 30 companies selected after a competitive 23:1 selection ratio. Mediwhale, a deep-tech startup developing AI-based retinal diagnostic devices (CEO Taegeun Choi), and UEL, Korea's only lunar exploration robotics company (CEO Namsuk Cho), won the Top Innovator Awards. Entrepreneurs from Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, and other countries also received awards, reflecting the global diversity of innovation.
Namsuk Cho, CEO of UEL (Unmanned Exploration Laboratory), stated, "With this award, we plan to secure follow-up investment and swiftly prove our lunar exploration technology to rise as a global company with proprietary capabilities."
Award-winning companies received support for international expansion and cloud credits through programs operated by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NAVER Cloud, the official sponsors, in collaboration with KITA.
In his welcome remarks, KITA Chairman Yoon Jin-sik stated, "We were honored to welcome innovators and industrial leaders from around the world to NextRise, Asia's largest open innovation platform." He added, "KITA, together with KDB, served as a bridge transforming ideas into technologies and technologies into industries, helping to design the industries of tomorrow amid the challenges and opportunities of AI, deep-tech, and the green transition."
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