Suwon Launches 'K-Silicon Valley' Initiative with Silicon Valley's Plug and Play

Suwon Special Status City (Mayor Lee Jae-jun) is moving forward with Plug and Play, a global startup incubation and investment institution, to implement the 'K-Silicon Valley' initiative.

A Suwon City delegation officially attended the 'Plug and Play Silicon Valley Summit 2026' held at Plug and Play's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, from March 3 to 5.

Plug and Play is a global startup incubation and investment institution headquartered in Silicon Valley that operates an open innovation program connecting startups, large enterprises, and investment institutions from around the world.

On March 5 (local time), the Suwon City delegation held a meeting with Plug and Play founder Saeed Amidi and delivered a handwritten letter from Mayor Lee Jae-jun expressing that "Plug and Play and Suwon City should continue cooperating and expand our exchanges."

During the meeting, the delegation discussed operational plans for a joint global startup and investment program in connection with the 'Third Gwanggyo Quantum Bio Summit' scheduled for 2027, as well as directions for expanding follow-up cooperation.

Suwon City's K-Silicon Valley research task force conducted on-site verification activities to investigate Silicon Valley's startup and investment ecosystem and innovative space operation cases. The city plans to identify collaboration tasks for attracting cutting-edge industries within the Gyeonggi Economic Free Zone's Suwon district and creating a Suwon-style innovation ecosystem.

This invitation visit builds on continuous exchanges including the Letter of Intent (LOI) signed by both organizations at the 'Second Gwanggyo Quantum Bio Summit' held in May and a subsequent meeting with Plug and Play's co-founder in June.

A Suwon City official stated, "Through this visit, we will solidify substantive joint programs at next year's Gwanggyo Quantum Bio Summit," and added, "We will establish a cooperation foundation for implementing the K-Silicon Valley initiative by connecting Silicon Valley's innovative capabilities to Suwon."