Startup Policy Prioritization for Ecosystem Advancement: A Demand-Centered Approach under the New Government

This study aims to identify demand-driven policy priorities aims to identify demand-driven policy priorities for startup promotion under the new administration by analyzing the perceptions of startup founders, the primary stakeholders in startup policy. Based on a comprehensive review of domestic and international literature on startup ecosystems and policies. an analytical framework comprising four top-level domains (culture & perception, infrastructure & support system, capital & market, institution & policy) and 20 mid-level factors was developed. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to 30 experts to determine the relative importance of each domain, while the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) was conducted with 150 startup founders to evaluate the gap between perceived importance and current performance. Results show that “difficulty in securing funding,” “insufficient support for post-failure recovery,” “lack of digital transformation capabilities,” and “redundant and inefficient administrative processes” fall into the high-importance but low-performance quadrant, indicating areas in urgent need of policy intervention. In contrast, areas such as “technology commercialization,” “public procurement entry barriers,” and “recruitment of high-level talent™ showed both high importance and performance, requiring continued attention. This study contributes by shifting the policy perspective from supply-side to demand-side, providing a foundation for startup policies grounded in entrepreneurs' actual experiences and perceptions. It also highlights the need for phased and multidimensional policy approaches to ensure balanced development of the startup ecosystem.