The chief of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development visited the Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center on Tuesday, calling it a “great business model for nurturing information and communications technology-based venture firms.”

Established by SK Group in partnership with the South Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the center offers start-ups at its facilities various business support and services to help them commercialize their technologies at home and abroad.

OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria, who is in South Korea to attend the ongoing OECD Ministerial Meeting Daejeon 2015 and the World Science and Technology Forum, expressed hope that “institutions like the Daejeon center will continue to give birth to new companies, which in turn can create more jobs,” according to SK.

Meeting with a handful of the heads of venture firms at the center, Gurria displayed a keen interest in their technologies, commercialization opportunities and business prospects, encouraging their success, SK said.

The Daejeon center and 16 others like it located across the country were formed in line with President Park Geun-hye’s flagship creative economy, which aims to generate fresh economic growth by fostering start-ups with ICT and easing the nation’s reliance on a small number of conglomerates.

The OECD chief had voiced strong support for Korea’s creative economy vision during the science forum Monday, calling it “one of the world’s most successful state-led economic policies to spur innovation, alongside Finland’s R&D innovation strategy and Germany’s high-tech development policy.”

“You don’t have to defend creative economy. It defends itself,” Gurria told Yonhap news agency when asked about potential problems with Park’s creative economy policy, often criticized at home for focusing less attention on targeting core problems with the local business environment.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed al-Saud, president of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, also visited the Daejeon center Monday, expressing high interest in partnering with Korea to introduce the creative economy business model in Saudi Arabia.

“That the Korean government is supporting the growth of venture firms in partnership with large businesses is very noteworthy,” said the KACST chief, who is in charge of finding new growth engines for the Saudi economy.

“Saudi Arabia also wants to build up a creative economy in which the government can encourage innovation while nurturing start-ups. We hope there will be expanded opportunities to cooperate with the Korean government and the Daejeon center in the future,” he said.

Seeking to diversify its economy beyond the oil industry, Saudi Arabia has been pushing to kick-start a culture of innovation and encourage the growth of new businesses as the nation faces falling oil prices and an aging population.

In line with such goals, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Telecom signed a memorandum of understanding with SK Telecom in March 2014 to import and localize the creative economy innovation center business model in Saudi Arabia.

“I feel that the creative economy policy has come to represent South Korea, as it has been receiving positive evaluations from the international community,” said Lim Jong-tae, director of the Daejeon center.

Around 10 more high-level officials from countries participating in the global science forum in Daejeon are scheduled to visit the start-up accelerator center on Thursday, according to SK Group.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)