Over the last decades, the high costs of R&D and production have led to a strong division of labor in the semiconductor industry. This globalized supply chain enabled innovation and cost reduction but has also led to a regional concentration of know-how and capacities now vulnerable to geopolitical risks. Accordingly, many regions have intensified their efforts to reinforce their local semiconductor value chains. Initiatives such as the EU Chips Act are well suited to foster the build-up of additional production capacities while strengthening resilience and technological sovereignty. Ill-coordinated regionalization efforts, however, can cause costs that have to be taken into account. Diversification must be strategic, targeted and market-oriented. A strong alignment with likeminded partners like Korea is key to overcome supply chain risks and geopolitical challenges in the future.

Partnership in Innovation - Let's seize the many opportunities that cooperation between German and Korean companies opens up. Figure it out at GKBIS. See you in Frankfurt.

For Merck, Korea has always been one of the most important and promising countries. With the company growing and transitioning into a vibrant science and technology company the country became even more relevant strategically, not just as a growing market but even more as a critical resource for advancing and manufacturing the products with and for our customers in Korea, in Asia, and worldwide.

The green and digital transformation are directly linked to each other. Without new technological solutions the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement won’t be achievable.

The German-Korean Business and Investment Summit presents an excellent opportunity for us to reflect on the longstanding business relations between Korea and Germany. Our shared commitment to innovation, quality, and reliability has allowed us to build strong partnerships across a wide range of industries. From technology and manufacturing to finance and trade, Germany and Korea have consistently demonstrated their ability to collaborate and create value together. As we look to the future, I'm confident that this relationship will continue to thrive, driving growth and prosperity for both nations.

Controlling organizations is more demanding than ever before. Therefore, all governance monitoring systems should be integrated holistically into companies in terms of organization and technology.

140 years of Korean-German relations and KGCCI has been part of this success story for almost one third of this period supporting economic cooperation and growth between the two countries. Trade volume increased from less than 10 billion USD in 2000 to over 33 billion USD last year. Both countries are strong partners and drivers of global innovation. This summit will showcase success cases and highlight opportunities to further empower Korean-German businesses to succeed in an ever-changing global market.

I am looking forward to discussing Korea’s energy transition and decarbonisation goals. As a global leader in offshore wind and green hydrogen, RWE is ready to work jointly with the Korean Government and industry to transition towards clean, sustainable, renewable energy.

As national investment promotion agency of Korea, Invest Korea (IK) selects promising investment projects for Korean innovative venture companies and SMEs having foreign investment needs. IK together with the Korea Development Bank created a fund for these selected companies. Hanwha Investment & Securities is the co-investor and manager of this matching fund for promoting foreign investment to high tech Korean start-ups and SMEs.

BASF is well on the way to Net Zero 2050. Investments into own production of renewable power, such as the wind farm Hollandse Kust Zuid, and long-term Power Purchase Agreements secure access for the massive amount of power required to supply the future energy needs of the world´s largest chemical company. Renewable power and electrification of production will be supplemented by clean hydrogen. BASF is planning to build a large-scale electrolyzer at Ludwigshafen site and is developing Methane Pyrolysis to access clean hydrogen. Investments into Carbon Capture and Storage will additionally provide faster ramp-up of low-carbon hydrogen and products.

Tractebel is working in the Korean Renewable Energy market since more than 20 years, supporting its Clients in developing and implementing their projects with a dedicated team in the country. Dr. Kleineidam has been involved in a number of projects himself and is now heading the renewable energy team within the European entities of Tractebel. We would be glad to share our experiences with an outlook into the future chances.

German-Korean trade ties have great potential and should be further improved. This conference offers a perfect opportunity to do so.

The semiconductor shortage has posed a severe challenge for automotive production in recent years.
We are seeing that these effects will still be with us in 2023 despite the expected greater availability of semiconductors and the overall situation will be normalized in 2025.
Continental responded to this with a task force back in 2021 to analyze the situation and optimize the long term volume planning in a holistic way including our suppliers and customers.
The final goal is to reach a more resilient supply chain by working closer together in the future.

POSCO Group is expanding its business areas from the implementation of low-carbon steelmaking processes to realize carbon neutrality by 2050 to hydrogen production, storage, transportation, infrastructure, and hydrogen demand industries. POSCO Holdings, the holding company, is developing overseas hydrogen production projects in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Australia for the group's various businesses, as well as hydrogen for supplying HyREX (low carbon steel). We hope that this 2023 Korea-Germany Business Summit will be a good opportunity to share carbon-neutral issues and views in both countries and find opportunities for cooperation.

As a Korean founder, I am delighted to be part of the summit to share my startup Journey in Germany. EasyCookAsia was founded in 2019 to make it easy for people to enjoy Asian dishes at home. The project was initially funded by ESF (European Social Fund), in 2022 we received our first VC funding and now we are ready to scale the business across Europe. Founding a startup in Germany means facing challenges every day, but we can grow if we learn from the pitfalls of the past. I look forward to talking about this at the summit.

As an international law firm with our Korean Desk in Frankfurt, we experience the strong ties between Germany and Korea and its excellent business opportunities on an everyday basis when supporting our Korean clients with their business activities in Germany as well as supporting our German clients with their market entry in Korea. As a Korean-German lawyer it is my pleasure and honor to be participating in the German-Korean Business and Investment Summit 2023. I look forward to a vivid exchange which will certainly create further great opportunities and synergies for the Korean-German business community

Frankfurt RheinMain - Korea’s 1st choice for business in Europe! Frankfurt RheinMain is the European financial & business hub on the European continent and hosting the by far largest Korean business community in Europe. Find out how your business can profit from becoming a part of it!

Invest KOREA (IK) is a national investment promotion agency whose aim is to support the establishment of foreign businesses in Korea. The agency was established as part of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). IK promotes Korea’s investment environment abroad and provides comprehensive services to foreign companies ranging from consultations, notifications of investments, establishment of corporations, support for business activities to complaint handling to foreign companies doing business here.

Germany and Korea enjoy close relations in a spirit of trust. Common political priorities include strengthening democracy and human rights, promoting multilateralism, consolidating the global economic system and combatting the impact of climate change. With its strong economy and advanced technological capabilities, South Korea is one of Germany's main trading partners in East Asia and an important partner for research cooperation. I am looking forward to further deepening our excellent bilateral exchange and cooperation on issues such as our energy partnership, the decarbonization of our industries, economic sovereignty and many more.

Orchestrated by human and artificial intelligence, the future holds for us significantly improved output with reduced input made possible by smart factories.

Korea is one of our top trading partners in Asia. German companies are tapping into Koreas business opportunities in growing numbers. Meet them at GKBIS and learn from their experiences! Open the door to your business success in Korea!

For Webasto as a global systems partner to the automotive industry, a strong network is crucial. We have a broad international base and have been working with many customers and suppliers on a basis of trust for decades - we benefit from this even in times of crisis. In South Korea, we have been active since the 1980s and are known and recognized as a supplier of innovative roof systems. In recent years, we have also established ourselves in the electromobility market with battery systems. For us, the German-Korean Business and Investment Summit is an excellent platform to intensify exchange and explore development opportunities. I am looking forward to being part of it in Frankfurt.

Invest KOREA (IK) is a national investment promotion agency whose aim is to support the establishment of foreign businesses in Korea. The agency was established as part of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). IK promotes Korea’s investment environment abroad and provides comprehensive services to foreign companies ranging from consultations, notifications of investments, establishment of corporations, support for business activities to complaint handling to foreign companies doing business here.

With the technological evolution, intelligent manufacturing and society are changing rapidly. Since 2019, the topic of Industrie 4.0 (I 4.0) is being evaluated in a close cooperation between the German Platform Industrie 4.0, the Labs Network Industrie 4.0 e.V. (LNI 4.0) and the Korea Smart Manufacturing Office (KOSMO) across national borders in exemplary prototypes and system integrations, but also in Standardization activities as a key issue for the success of a smart manufacturing vision of the industries in Korea and Germany. The vision of both sides consists in the implementation of open and globally interoperable systems for the industrial implementation of Smart Manufacturing.

Despite the slowdown of consumer electronics, the long-term growth perspective for the semiconductor industry is stable. Due to increasing geopolitical risks, new investments need to consider regional developments more closely than in recent years. Under these conditions, the strong bonds between Europe and Korea have been proven to provide a secure environment for future business opportunities.

The 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and Korea is a glimmer of hope in these challenging economic and geopolitical times. Both countries not only share the trauma of division but first and foremost the same values. This is the foundation for our robust bilateral economic cooperation, which we will hopefully continue to strengthen and deepen. The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) is doing its utmost, to help maximize the potential of German-Korean business relations. The German-Korean Business and Investment Summit 2023 is the perfect opportunity for this.

Since the establishment of HL Mando in Frankfurt, Germany in 2010, it has created many businesses in several European countries including Germany. Currently, we are making great efforts to continuously secure sustainability and resilience in the difficult German business environment such as economic recession and inflation. Now, as a strategy for survival, we are going through the process of adaptation in maintaining and creating business in Europe. We look forward to creating more opportunities through many mutual exchanges.