Hanwha Group hosted a roundtable discussion on the future of Asian startups to better create a business environment for budding enterprises in the region, on the sidelines of the annual BOAO Forum, officials said Sunday.

Titled “From ‘Made in Asia to ‘Created in Asia,’” the South Korean conglomerate invited 20 startups from China, Japan, South Korea, India and Thailand, with Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-youn’s second son, Kim Dong-won, managing director of Hanwha Life Insurance attending. The 32-year-old Yale graduate was participating as a panelist, and urged participants to forge a pan-Asian Startup ecosystem to help them make inroads into global market.

“We are hosting this roundtable to discuss how much creative power Asian countries, proud of their long history and tradition, can have,” he was quoted by officials in Seoul.

“We can create bigger opportunities if Asian startups from each country stay connected to one another.” The discussion was held as part of Dream Plus, an accelerator program led by Kim in South Korea, Japan and China.

Later in the afternoon, Kim also met Zhao Haishan, vice mayor of Tianjin and shared his interests in the Chinese city’s free trade zone and the investment environment there. Kim also requested the vice mayor for cooperation on setting a local office of Hanwha’s asset management unit in China and securing an operation license from Asset Management Association of China.

Kim was participating the Chinese forum, dubbed as Asia’s Davos Forum, for the second time. He was a panelist for Young Leader’s Roundtable at the forum last year, the group said.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)