The Status of Women Knowledge and Technology-Based Start-Ups and Policy Implications

In order to create jobs and restore economic vitality, new businesses should be actively established.As the demand for goods and services satisfying the needs related to beauty, emotions, softness, and creativity continues to grow, it is important to create as many jobs as possible in response by fostering knowledge and technology-based business startups by women and drawing upon women’s comparative advantages in emotional sensitivity and creativity. In particular, Women-owned Businesses may contribute to solving the diminishing of economic invigoration appearing in the economic development process, and they also play a significant role in offering new jobs for women.As women participate more in economic activity, the number of start-ups founded by women is on a rise. However, the share of start-ups by women in Korea is very low compared to that of the OECD countries.Particularly, the rate of women’s businesses in venture business, business of knowledge and technology, has been increasing since 2007, while the share of current (in late 2014) female venture businesses in Korea is only 8.0% (2,393 businesses out of total 29,910 businesses).This paper suggests ways to invigorate future knowledge and technology-based business start-ups by women by investigating and analyzing general characteristics of business founders, factors affecting start-ups, difficulties occurring from business start-ups, and utilization of support programs focused not on the hospitality industry such as dining or lodging business, but on the knowledge and technology-based business start-ups by women in the era of creative economy, where job creation rises to the prime national political agenda