The Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) is opening a venue for small and medium-sized enterprises to explore innovation and future growth strategies in an era of artificial intelligence transformation. The event will focus on applying advanced technologies, including physical AI, to industrial sites and on strengthening the competitiveness of smaller companies.
KBIZ said on the 19th that it will hold the 2026 SME Leaders Forum from the 20th to the 23rd at the Lotte Hotel in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, drawing about 400 heads of small and medium-sized companies representing industries and regions nationwide.
The forum, now in its 19th year, carries the theme "With SMEs, Toward a Top Three AI Power." The slogan reflects an ambition for South Korea to emerge as one of the world's three leading AI powers through the innovation and growth of smaller companies in an age of AI transformation.
Novelist Kim Hong-shin will speak on the theme "You Know Once You Have Lived It, So Just Live," and Father Hwang Chang-yeon of the St. Philip Ecological Village will address participants on "A Life to Be Proud Of." Other speakers include Park Yong-woo, head of the obesity clinic at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital; Shin Yong-han, governor of North Chungcheong Province; docent Jung Woo-chul; Lee Jin-woo, vice president of Sam Pro TV; physiognomist Park Sung-joon; and Kim Hyung-tae, chief executive of Performance by TBWA.
At a panel discussion titled "Innovation Strategies for SMEs in the Era of Physical AI," Park Young-sun, chair of the strategic economic advisory group at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, will deliver a keynote address, and experts from government, industry and academia will discuss how smaller companies can use AI and build competitiveness.
The SME Leaders Forum has shaped the policy agenda for smaller companies by examining pressing issues in a fast-changing business environment and proposing solutions. With lectures on politics and the economy and the sharing of experience and knowledge by opinion leaders, it is regarded as the premier forum among the country's business organizations.