Seoul Mobility Award Finals Held Today... "Contributing to Technological Innovation in Our Industry"

Jeong Manki, Organizing Committee Chairman, Points Out Need for Tax Benefits and Negative Regulation to Revitalize Domestic R&D

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 1st, the Seoul Mobility Show Organizing Committee held the final judging of the Seoul Mobility Award to promote technological innovation among innovative mobility companies.

The Seoul Mobility Award is an awards ceremony and technology presentation targeting startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations in the mobility sector. It is hosted by the Seoul Mobility Show Organizing Committee and co-organized by KAIST and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, and was launched for the first time this year.

Chairman Jeong Manki stated in his opening remarks, "Our country ranks 1st or 2nd globally in R&D investment as a percentage of GDP, and the absolute investment scale has exceeded 100 trillion won, ranking 5th worldwide after the United States, China, Japan, and Germany. However, productivity remains insufficient as the technology trade balance deficit continues." He emphasized, "Improving research and development (R&D) productivity is possible when corporate R&D, which has streamlined research procedures and high research immersion, expands rather than government projects that require time and cost to comply with research-related regulations. Therefore, policies to promote this are necessary."

Chairman Jeong further pointed out that tax support and negative regulation are essential to activate corporate R&D. He said, "Last year, Hyundai Motor Group's sales ranked 4th globally, but its R&D investment was 3.58 billion euros (about 4.8 trillion won), ranking around 10th worldwide, and the R&D ratio to sales was about 2.9%, whereas competing countries' companies are at 5-6%. High labor costs are also a cause, but there are some causes in government support methods as well." He added, "Policies and regulations must be carefully reviewed and supplemented so that companies can accumulate various new industry experiments and empirical knowledge. In particular, negative regulation should be fully introduced in new industry sectors."

Chairman Jeong also said, "Going forward, the Seoul Mobility Show will transform to contribute to technological innovation in our industry," adding, "At the CES 2022 Innovation Awards, more than 1,800 entries have been submitted across 27 categories so far, and the selected technologies attract investors' attention, providing companies with great growth opportunities. The Seoul Mobility Award will also be developed in the same context."

At the final judging of the Seoul Mobility Award held that day, 12 companies participated in the Eco Mobility category: Blue Shark, Isola Energy, KST Electric; New Mobility category: GEMJECO, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Hyundai Mobis; Smart Mobility category: Vestella Lab, SK Telecom, Kavi; and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) category: Car and People, Jin Mobility, Parking Cloud.

The final results will be announced at 4 p.m., with the judging panel composed of industry experts focusing on innovation, technology, marketability, and growth potential. One company in each category will receive the Excellence Award and a prize of 1 million won, and one company selected as the ‘Most Innovative Company’ based on overall evaluation will receive the Grand Prize and a prize of 3 million won.