"Need for Institutional Improvements in KOSDAQ Market to Enable Shared Growth of SMEs and Investors"

Innovation Venture Forum "The KOSDAQ Everyone Seeks" Held

An event was held to explore institutional reform measures so that KOSDAQ, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, can further evolve as an innovation platform supporting the fundraising and growth of small and venture businesses.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business and the Korean Association of Small Business Studies announced that they jointly hosted the Innovation Venture Forum, themed "KOSDAQ for All: A Capital Market Where Innovative Small Giants and Investors Thrive Together," at the Korea Exchange Conference Hall in Yeouido on September 4. The event was attended by more than 100 participants, including representatives from small and venture businesses, investors, academia, and market operating institutions.

On the 4th, participants of the Innovation Venture Forum held at the Korea Exchange Conference Hall in Yeouido are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by the Korea Federation of SMEs

The forum divided the stages that companies experience in the KOSDAQ market—admission and listing preparation, maintaining listing and growth, and delisting or market exit—and diagnosed major challenges and institutional issues at each phase, as well as discussed possible improvements.

First, Junhyuk Jung, professor at Seoul National University School of Law, gave the keynote presentation on "Measures to Boost KOSDAQ as an Innovation Market," outlining directions for KOSDAQ's development with a focus on the competition among major global capital markets to attract companies.

Next, Professor Hyunggoo Kang of Hanyang University stated, "We must reduce listing entry costs and uncertainties for quality small and venture businesses, while simultaneously strengthening the market's ability to select companies and protecting investors." Professor Youngkeun Choi of Sangmyung University analyzed issues arising in the processes of maintaining listing and delisting in the KOSDAQ market as an "expansion of heterogeneity," in which both quality·innovative companies and financially vulnerable companies increase simultaneously. He also proposed corresponding policy tasks.

During the general discussion, presided over by Byungjoon Yoo, professor at Seoul National University, participants from the SME sector, venture industry, capital market, academia, and Korea Exchange discussed directions for institutional reform in the KOSDAQ market.

Heejung Kim, Head of Economic Policy at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, said, "We will consolidate the diverse opinions presented at this forum in order to prepare institutional reform proposals for the KOSDAQ market, enabling small, venture businesses and investors to grow together, and will actively suggest them to the government and relevant institutions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.