Second Gyeonggi Province Co-Growth Fair Held… Creating a Mutually Beneficial Market Between Large and Small-to-Medium Enterprises
On the 22nd, Gyeonggi Province jointly hosted the '2026 Gyeonggi Province Co-Growth Fair' with the Co-Growth Committee at the Suwon Convention Center, creating a venue for mutual cooperation between large and small-to-medium enterprises.
This year's fair, marking its second edition, carried the theme 'Growing Together, Gyeonggi Connecting Shared Prosperity,' with 120 large and mid-sized enterprises and public institutions and 262 small-to-medium enterprises participating. The fair operated diverse programs including △large and small-to-medium enterprise purchasing consultation meetings △co-growth product planning (MD) evaluation session △large enterprise store entry briefing sessions △small-to-medium enterprise difficulty consultation services and more.
In the purchasing consultation meeting, the core program of the fair, consultations were divided into four sectors—machinery and heavy industry, construction and chemicals, distribution services, and electrical, electronic, and energy—with a total of 732 one-on-one customized consultations conducted.
The newly established 'Co-Growth Product Planning (MD) Evaluation Session' saw Lotte Department Store participating as a cooperative partner, directly evaluating products from 20 outstanding small-to-medium enterprises in the province and examining product competitiveness and distribution suitability. Participating enterprises will be connected with sales channel support including Lotte Department Store pop-up stores and online and offline channels, while excellent companies will pursue additional sales channel support such as store entries at 'Dream Plaza,' a specialized sales channel support facility for small-to-medium enterprises at the Yeongdeungpo branch of Lotte Department Store.
Additionally, product planners (MDs) from a total of 10 distribution companies, including Coupang and Hyundai Home Shopping, participated to review products' market potential and store entry possibilities from multiple angles, exploring possibilities for sales channel expansion through future store entry and transaction discussions.
Ju Hyung-chul, Vice Governor of Economic Affairs at Gyeonggi Province, said in his opening remarks, "Gyeonggi Province is the center of co-growth cooperation between large and small-to-medium enterprises, with approximately 27% of the nation's small-to-medium enterprises concentrated here," and added, "I hope this fair will serve as an opportunity to contribute to practical sales channel development for small-to-medium enterprises in the province and the creation of a sustainable transaction environment."
Meanwhile, the opening ceremony was attended by Vice Governor Ju Hyung-chul, along with members of Gyeonggi Province Council's Economic and Labor Committee Jang Tae-hwan, Choi Sang-gyu, Song Yeon-seop, Oh Hyun-jeong, and Choi Hye-kyung, Byun Tae-seop, Executive Director of the Large and Small-to-Medium Enterprise and Fisheries Cooperation Foundation, Yu Tae-il, Standing Director of the Gyeonggi Economic Science and Innovation Promotion Agency, and Lee Sung-hyun, Head of Communications Division at Lotte Department Store, who congratulated the successful hosting of the event.