Students in South Korea have traditionally been quite risk-averse, preferring to work for big enterprises such as Samsung, LG, or Hyundai. However, this seems to have been changing in recent years as many students show a growing interest in startups and entrepreneurship.
Ten years ago, the government of South Korea changed the law to allow universities to have technology holding companies to commercialise the university’s technology and research, and to facilitate the formation of spinouts. In 2008, Seoul National University, Hanyang University and Samyook University launched their holding companies – modelling them on Oxford University Innovation, University of Oxford’s tech transfer office, and SRI International, a non-profit research institute spun out of Stanford University. As of the end of 2016, there were 48 university holding companies owning 435 subsidiaries.
Nonetheless, the actual performance of the companies does not match their increase in number. For instance, the businesses of Seoul National University Holdings recorded an annual sale of $25m in 2016, which represented less than 1% of that recorded by the portfolio of Tsinghua Holdings, the commercialisation arm of Tsinghua University.
Regulations account in part for the lacklustre performance of university holding companies.…
