Internet search giant Google is to open a 20,000 sq-foot start-up centre in the Gangnam district of Seoul, South Korea, to foster the country’s burgeoning businesses and provide them with global exposure.
Google plans to open the new facility as early as next year. Financial details have not been disclosed.
Plans are to provide young entrepreneurs at the centre with events, educational programmes, and co-working spaces so they can develop their ideas and network with their peers.
This new centre would be Google’s third outside of Silicon Valley, California. The company opened centres in London and Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported.
News of the South Korean centre came via Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice-president, Android, Chrome and Apps, who spoke at an event in Seoul earlier today.
He said South Korea is an obvious place for Google to establish a start-up facility.
Pichai cited the number of Korean developers on the Android platform had tripled in the past two years, and noted Korea is now one of the world’s top 5 countries in terms of the number of Android developers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“We see Korean developers getting more revenue from outside the country than inside, and we think they need the best practices, and access to some things that developers in Silicon Valley have,” Pichai said.
Gangnam image via Shutterstock
