Seoul pitches itself as Asia’s quantum gateway to court European tech firms

Seoul Investment Promotion Foundation Chairman Lee Ji-hyung, center, poses with representatives of Forvis Mazars during a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony for the two sides' partnership in Paris, Thursday. Courtesy of Seoul Investment Promotion Foundation

The Seoul Investment Promotion Agency staged a targeted investment seminar, dubbed “Seoul Forward,” at Europe’s largest tech conference this week, making a direct pitch to European innovators to view the Korean capital as their primary gateway into the Asian market.

The event, held as an official workshop at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, reflects Seoul's intensifying efforts to court foreign tech firms in highly specialized, high-stakes sectors like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Rather than relying on broad bureaucratic promises, the agency anchored its pitch on a high-profile validation: Pasqal, the French neutral-atom quantum computing heavyweight. Representatives from Pasqal shared their firsthand experience establishing a footprint in Seoul, citing the city's robust tech infrastructure, engineering talent pool and strategic position for regional expansion as critical factors in their successful deployment.

Following the case study, Korean investment officials conducted one-on-one intensive consultations with a curated group of European startups specializing in deep tech. The closed-door meetings were designed to gauge specific regulatory, logistical and financial requirements, identifying a pipeline of European firms with immediate intentions to expand overseas.

To systematically lower the barriers that traditionally stymie foreign corporate relocation, the Seoul Investment Promotion Agency also signed a memorandum of understanding with Forvis Mazars, a prominent global consulting and accounting firm. The partnership, which bridges the firm’s French and South Korean entities, establishes a streamlined, "one-stop" support mechanism to handle corporate registration, tax compliance, and legal cross-border hurdles for European companies entering the capital.

Agency officials emphasized that the initiative is less about passive marketing and more about embedding Seoul into the global deep-tech ecosystem.

"Through Seoul Forward, we are establishing an institutional bridge with Europe's most disruptive innovators," a spokesperson for the agency said. "We intend to provide a frictionless pathway for global enterprises to build their Asian hubs in Seoul."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.