[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) on the 10th and announced active support for startups in AI, healthcare, and other fields in the Gwangju area.
According to GIST on the 11th, Minister Park held an on-site meeting to revitalize youth startups at GIST, attended by about 40 people including President Kim Ki-seon, Lee Hyun-jo, head of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Small and Medium Venture Business Administration, and student entrepreneurs from undergraduate and graduate programs.
This meeting was organized to share the practical difficulties students preparing for startups face in commercializing their startup ideas or in the early stages of entrepreneurship, and to seek solutions together.
About 10 student (prospective) entrepreneurs attended the on-site meeting held at the GIST Startup Promotion Center. SOS LAB Co., Ltd., a startup developing LiDAR, and Cloudstone (CEO Kim Min-jun, undergraduate majoring in Chemistry), which developed the delivery app service specialized in single-portion orders called ‘BaedalGeek,’ introduced their business models and the current status of their startup operations.
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, thermal cameras, hand sanitizers, and masks were provided at the site.
Minister Park said, “I understand that student startup companies like you face many difficulties in realizing your dreams on site,” adding, “I hope you do not give up until the end and keep knocking on doors, holding on to hope, dreams, and expectations that doors will surely open, and continue to challenge yourselves.”
She continued, “Since AI startup talent development is actively taking place at GIST and the Gwangju AI cluster is being established, we will support more young people to challenge startups in various fields such as AI and healthcare.”
President Kim Ki-seon said, “The GIST AI Research Institute has been actively promoting the ‘AI Startup Talent Development Project’ from this year to discover AI demand, educate AI prospective startup teams, and discover business items,” adding, “We will strive to nurture AI startup teams centered on Gwangju’s key industries such as automobiles, energy, healthcare, and cultural contents to contribute to securing new growth engines for the local community.”
Meanwhile, before the meeting, Minister Park took a test ride in a LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) equipped vehicle produced by GIST student startup SOS LAB (CEO: Jung Ji-sung, on leave from the doctoral program in Mechanical Engineering) and monitored real-time GIST campus road condition data collected by the LiDAR sensor on the rear seat screen.
SOS LAB recently succeeded in attracting Series A+ investment worth 9.8 billion KRW, starting with lead investment from Korea Development Bank (KDB). This is an additional investment following the 6.8 billion KRW investment received in 2018 from global automotive parts manufacturer Mando and others, bringing the total accumulated investment to about 17 billion KRW.
CEO Jung Ji-sung said, “We plan to commercialize vehicle LiDAR by next year, and we will develop LiDAR with durability at a low cost to contribute to creating a world where technology can ensure people’s safety.”
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