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Failure successfully embraced at World Rechallenge Forum with rich case studies

From left) Kwon Seon-pil (Head of the private planning group for the Fail Expo), Mona Ismail (President of AaltoES), Jeon Hae-cheol (Minister of the Interior and Safety), Kwon Chil-seung (Minister of SMEs and Startups), and Lee Jeong-hee (Chairman of Korea Women Startup Forum) | Photo by AVING News

The Ministry of Interior and Safety (MOIS,Minister Jeon Hae-cheol) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS, MinisterKwon Chil-seung) announced on Oct. 13 that it successful ended WorldRechallenge Forum. In the forum, major achievements of the Fail Expo held forfour years at the Small and Medium Business DMC Center and the culture ofovercoming domestic and international failures and rechallenge were shared.

This World Rechallenge Forum was preparedto talk about the failures of individuals, companies, and countries that areexperiencing failure due to COVID-19 beyond Korea and prepare for the era ofwith living with COVID together. Also, experts and people in the related fieldwill gather to share cases of failure and rechallenge so that failure can beconverted into rechallenge, and further to spread a culture of acceptance inKorea and abroad.

From 2020, the MOIS has changed the FailExpo to a year-round operation, and is operating a private planning groupcomposed of private expert by fields to communicate about policies and collectopinions in the field.

In the opening remarks, Minister of theInterior and Safety Jeon Hae-cheol said, "The Korean government has beenmaking efforts to improve social perception of failure by holding the Fail Exposince 2018.” He also added, “We held the World Rechallenge Forum to broadlydiscuss the value of failure and share international cases. In particular, thisforum is more meaningful because it was held on the Day for Failure, whichstarted in Finland in 2010 and is spreading all over the world."

Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of the Interior and Safety, attending the World Rechallenge Forum on Oct. 13 to give an opening remarks | Photo by AVING News

He also said, "At the WorldRechallenge Forum to be held for the first time in Korea this year, werediscovered the value of failure through sharing and active discussion ofvarious failure cases between public and private companies, while sharing thecommon social value of failure and rechallenge into a larger global community.The government promises that it will continue to work with the internationalcommunity to encourage overcoming failures and rechallenge.”

In the welcome speech that followed,Minister of SMEs and Startups Kwon Chil-seung said, "Because of theCOVID-19 pandemic that continued for almost two years, Korea and the world isexperiencing difficulties.” In the process of overcoming COVID-19, manycompanies were in despair, and the difficulties of small business owners wereeven greater. However, the Republic of Korea showed the power to overcome thecrisis, and was able to once again look back on the meaning of failure andrechallenge."

He then said, “Despite the difficultsituation, we found opportunities thanks to the steady challenges of innovativeventure companies and startups and the active support of the government, andthe venture investment performance has grown rapidly compared to beforeCOVID."

As if to support this, the number ofunicorn companies that was three in 2017 increased to 15 now. He showed pridein the event by saying, "If you look at the data released by the WorldIntellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last year, Korea scored high in fearfor failure in the world in the past. But, now, it surprised the world by beingselected as the country with the lowest fear of failure for the secondconsecutive year.”

Kwon Chil-seung, Minister of SMEs and Startups, attending the World Rechallenge Forum on Oct. 13 to give a welcoming message | Photo by AVING News

Minister Kwon said, "In the future,the government will continue to improve the perception of failure and plan tohelp spread a win-win culture for rechallenge in the private sector. Failure isa valuable asset and a process of success. We will focus on the government'spolicy capabilities so that the experiences of failure can be perceived associal assets."

The keynote speech of the World RechallengeForum was attended by Kwon Seon-pil, head of the private planning group for theFail Expo. On the content of the change and the path to be taken by the FailExpo, Kwon Seon-pil, Head of the private planning group for the Fail Expo,presented the role of the Fail Expo in improving the perception of failure inour society and the development plan for the Fail Expo to support the recoveryand rechallenge of the people in the COVID era.

At the opening remark, Kwon said, “The FailExpo led by the Ministry of Interior and Safety started in 2018 and is enteringits fourth year this year. The Fail Expo is a challenge to imagine and make asociety that goes beyond the series Squid Game, which is a hit all over theworld.”

He continued, "The process of overcoming failure should begin with the provision of a time and space where one can bring out personal failure experiences without fear. Also, in order to bring out the experience of failure, we should be able to destroy all barriers that become obstacles. The venue to freely express oneself with various artistic activities like body gestures, drawings, and music besides language must be prepared first.”

Kwon also emphasized the role of thegovernment, saying, “Overcoming failure must be connected with variousinnovative activities such as technological, social, government, andadministrative innovations. For example, administrative innovations such asregulatory reform, active administration, and inter-ministerial collaborationare also starting points to solve various failures experienced by the people.All activities in Fail Expo will not end here. All members of society mustparticipate in the entire process of failure and recovery.”

Lastly, he said, "To learn about failurequickly and avoid failure, you must quickly and widely spread ways to overcomefailure. Also, various institutions and policies that can promote theseactivities should be creatively developed and spread widely.”

World Rechallenge Forum Part 2 in progress

In the second part that immediatelyfollowed, a panel discussion was held on domestic and foreign public, private,and corporate failures, rechallenge cases, and development directions.

Ahn Young-no, a member of the privateplanning group for the Fail Expo, presented on the operation cases of the FailExpo, Mona Ismail, President of AaltoES, presented on the operation cases ofthe World Day for Failure, and Marc H. Meyer, Director of the Center forEntrepreneurship Education at Northeastern University in the US, presented oncase studies of companies.

Especially, Mona Ismail emphasized theimportance of the perception of failure, and introduced ways to embrace failurein the society, the need for a mindset change, and the case study of Finland beforethe Day for Failure and Finland today, which attracted the audience.

In the panel discussion, Manoj Fernando,CEO of the Silicon Valley investment company Think Tomi, Yoon Nan-sil,Secretary for Institutional Reform of the Presidential Secretariat, and SeoYong-seok, Head of the Future Strategy Research Center at the Korea TechnologyInstitute participated.

Day for Failure, founded by AaltoES (AaltoEntrepreneurship Society) created by Aalto University students in 2010, wasextended to World Day for Failure in 2012 with the participation of severalcountries including Germany, UK, and Canada.

This forum was broadcast live on Oct. 13 onthe MOIS YouTube channel and the Fail Expo YouTube channel. The video(translated in Korean) can be viewed later on the MOIS YouTube channel.

Founder of World Day for Failure MonaIsmail says "If you don't try because you're afraid of failure, you'llmiss out on many opportunities!"

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