At the beginning of September, a group of companies from Thuringia traveled to South Korea, the fourth largest economy in Asia. Co-organized with our partners, Germany Trade and Invest, OptoNet e.V. and Automotive Thüringen e.V., the program included stops in the capital city of Seoul and the province of Gyeonggi-do. A highly innovative country with giants such as LG, Samsung, Kia, and Hyundai, South Korea is an attractive export market for Thuringia’s economy and offers exciting opportunities for research partnerships. South Korea’s innovative start-up culture and research priorities, which include autonomous vehicles, intelligent transportation systems, entertainment systems, battery technologies, and automated production, provide points of contact for cross-border collaborative projects with the Thuringian participants, who presented their strengths in sensor technology, electronics, and electromobility. However, the focus of the networking event and the investor seminar, which were also part of the program, was to present Thuringia as a business location and appeal to potential investors. The trip was a follow-up to a visit by Carsten Schneider, Minister of State at the German Federal Chancellery, to the Ambassador in Seoul in early May 2024. On this occasion, Thuringia invited guests to a business breakfast, where promising contacts were made.
