STATION F launches new International Program for visiting countries, in partnership with HEC Paris

Korean participants for the International Program with KOSME 

At STATION F, being international has always been part of our DNA. For example, when we made our first-ever announcement, we decided to do it at Techcrunch Disrupt - in London. We made the unorthodox decision to make English our primary language of communication on campus (at the time, English wasn’t as common in the ecosystem as it is today). We even decided NOT to use our building’s historical name because it was difficult to pronounce for non-French speakers - so we changed our name to STATION F. In 2019, when we launched housing, we decided NOT to require a local guarantor for tenants, making it much easier for foreign residents. As a result, our community is very international with over one third of all campus residents coming from abroad.

In addition, over the last few years, we’ve also seen more and more demand from foreign ecosystems that want to collaborate and also replicate our model. In 2022, we began testing a 2-day Immersion Program for international ecosystems to learn how we built STATION F. We’ve had participants from many countries, including Italy, South Africa, Japan, Saudi Arabia and more (our next edition will be in May 2024). And we have done consulting for some select international campuses - primarily in Asia.

While STATION F is probably the most international place within the French ecosystem, we still feel that there is much to gain by fostering even more international collaboration. This is why we have decided to launch a new offer that seeks to bring more international startups to campus. This is not only beneficial to the local ecosystem but also for the participating companies who want to access STATION F resources and the European market.

Short & long-term International Programs at STATION F

Japanese entrepreneurs during the short-term “visitor” program for Japan in late 2023, hosted by STATION F & HEC Paris. Photo credit: HEC Paris

STATION F has developed both a short-term “visitor” program (starting at 2 weeks in duration) and a year-long program, together with our partner HEC Paris. Participating partner countries can select startups to come to Paris to participate in the program. The program is conducted entirely in English and offers the best of what both STATION F and HEC Paris, through the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute, have to offer - including access to customers, investors, leading business mentors and more.

STATION F and HEC Paris hosted a pilot of the short-term “visitor” program for Japan in late 2023 and are now gearing up to roll out more editions of both the short and long-term programs.

Our first full-year program with South Korea

Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol at STATION F on June 20th. Photo Credit: Yonhap

STATION F has always had a strong relationship with South Korea. Naver has been one of our partners on campus since our launch in 2017 and we were also very honored to host President Yoon Suk-Yeol last year when he was in Paris. We’ve had quite a few notable Korean founders on campus as well, including the teams behind Wishupon, Omena and more. Beyond STATION F, the French ecosystem also has very strong ties with South Korea - including 2 former Ministers of Digital who both have Korean origins. But this is perhaps also best exemplified by South Korea being selected as “country of the year” last year by French mega conference, Vivatech. 

So we would not be more pleased to be able to launch our first full-year, International Program with KOSME - a non-profit, government-funded organization established to implement government policies and programs for the sound growth and development of Korean SMEs. This program kicked off early February with 10 participating companies who have come over from Korea and are currently based at STATION F.

To learn more about our International Programs, please reach out to press@stationf.co