- Korea partners with HP to bring Silicon Valley–style “garage innovation” to local startups
- AI and data startups gain access to HP Garage 2.0 and global markets from 2026
- The tie-up strengthens Korea’s push to become a global deep-tech hub
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) has teamed up with HP to transport the legendary garage innovation model of Silicon Valley to Korea, thus providing the Korean startups in AI and data science with a stronger global market.
The AroundX Global Open Innovation Program will be the basis for the partnership that enables the startups to create, try out, and expand their solutions by having the benefit of HP's global technology platforms, R&D infrastructure, and commercial networks.
The collaboration was brought up in the course of a meeting that took place recently at HP's U.S. office between Vice Minister, Noh Yong-seok and David McQuarrie, Chief Commercial Officer of HP Inc.
After this, the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) entered into a memorandum of understanding with HP to co-manage the AroundX Global Corporate Collaboration Program, with HP's official involvement expected to start in 2026.
The collaboration fundamentally revolves around HP Garage 2.0, which is HP’s worldwide platform for open innovation and startup acceleration, inspired by the company's 1939 garage in Palo Alto which is considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
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Through the AroundX, HP Garage 2.0 is localized and thus, MSS anticipates the fusion of Korea’s policy-based innovation system with the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley, thus providing the startups with government backing and corporate partnership under a single platform.
AroundX opened its doors in 2019 and has since then transformed into one of the most significant public-private partnerships in Korea for global startup collaboration, bringing together local startups with global giants like NVIDIA, Microsoft, AWS, and Intel.
With the addition of HP to the roster of OpenAI and Mercedes-Benz, the initiative now covers the domains of AI, mobility, and biotechnology.
The MSS-HP alliance is interpreted by industry watchers as a move that changes the nature of the partnership from mere symbolism to considerable, long-term, and structural collaboration—bringing Korea to the map of the world's deep-tech hubs where the interplay of policy, corporate innovation, and startup ambition allows for global scaling up.