Lotte Super Signs Business Agreement for Startup Open Innovation Challenge

The pitching day is taking place at the B. Startup Open Innovation Challenge.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Lotte Super announced on the 30th that it has signed a business agreement for the ‘2022 B.Startup Open Innovation Challenge’ and will support promising startups.

On the 1st of next month, Lotte Super will sign a business agreement with the Busan Creative Economy Innovation Center and Lotte Ventures to establish a joint business operation and mutual cooperation system to discover and support promising retail startups.

The three companies are currently jointly conducting the program, through which three promising startup teams with retail innovation technologies and services will be selected. The recruitment topics include store condition recognition, customer self-checkout, unmanned phone ordering, artificial intelligence (AI) big data analysis, and free topics contributing to retail innovation. Various support and benefits will be provided to the final selected startups.

Among the startups that applied during the recruitment conducted by Lotte Super from last month to early this month, the top nine teams with high scores were shortlisted, and immediately after the business agreement ceremony, a presentation evaluation for selecting the final three teams will be held at the same venue. The three selected startups will be matched with Lotte Super’s operational departments and collaborate for about six months, receiving opportunities to test their technologies and services both online and offline. They will also receive various infrastructure and support, including up to 10 million KRW in commercialization support funds from the Busan Creative Economy Innovation Center, opportunities to participate in pitching days, and priority selection opportunities for Lotte Ventures’ startup accelerating program, L-Camp.

Nam Chang-hee, CEO of Lotte Super, said, “Through this business agreement, we hope to strengthen partnerships and support promising startups while discovering future content for retail innovation,” and added, “We will continue to make efforts in various ways to fulfill our corporate social responsibility.”