Creating a Future Battery Ecosystem... Ulsan Ulju Small but Strong R&D Special Zone, Performance Report

The Ulsan Ulju Small Giant Research and Development Special Zone (Small Giant Special Zone) performance report meeting was held on the 3rd at the Kyungdong Hall on the 4th floor of the UNIST main building.

The Small Giant Special Zone was designated in 2020 and officially launched in 2021, and its achievements to date were presented at this report meeting.

About 100 related personnel of the Small Giant Special Zone attended the meeting, including Ahn Hyo-dae, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Ulsan City, and Lee Yong-hoon, President of UNIST, and the event proceeded in the order of ▲ Ulsan Mayor’s Commendation for contributors to the development and promotion of the Small Giant Special Zone ▲Performance report of Ulsan Ulju Small Giant Special Zone ▲Case presentations of four outstanding performance companies.

The Ulsan Ulju Small Giant Special Zone announced at the performance report meeting that a total of 19 research institute companies were established, 49 technology transfers and 25 technology startups were carried out. It also announced achievements such as 133.8 billion KRW in investment linkage and the creation of 372 new jobs.

In particular, the amount of investment in startup companies (including project-linked funds) over the three years since the designation of the special zone reached 485.2 billion KRW, which is 3.7 times higher than the same period before the designation, and the cumulative corporate value within the special zone increased fourfold, reaching 1 trillion KRW.

Additionally, plans were introduced to create an optimal future-type battery innovation cluster by establishing corporate residence spaces and support facilities through the construction of the UNIST Industry-Academic Cooperation Building, the second phase of the Ulsan High-Tech Valley general industrial complex, and the construction of a knowledge industry center.

The Ulsan Ulju Small Giant Special Zone Performance Presentation is currently underway.

On this day, ‘License Medical,’ founded by Professor Kim Gun-ho of the UNIST Department of Mechanical Engineering, received the Ulsan Mayor’s Commendation. License Medical developed a rapid precision cooling medical device and obtained approval for marketing from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Community Certification (CE), and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

It also achieved $5 million in exports last year by entering the global medical market with purely domestic technology.

In the presentation of outstanding company cases, Ulsan small and medium-sized enterprise ‘Luxco’ announced a new R&D plan being planned with UNIST faculty to enter the specialized field of ‘future-type batteries.’

‘Daehyun Solution,’ a subsidiary of Daehyun Industry, developed nitrogen oxide reduction device technology as a research institute company to open a new market in line with the carbon-neutral era.

In addition, ‘WithinNet,’ which received technology transfers such as AI and robotics from UNIST, and ‘DeepEye,’ which started as an in-house venture of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, also shared their corporate achievements so far as part of the Small Giant Special Zone.

The event also featured booth exhibitions where visitors could see the commercialized research results and prototypes of companies that participated in the outstanding company case presentations, enhancing understanding of the technologies.

At the Ulsan Ulju Small Giant Special Zone Performance Presentation, UNIST President Lee Yong-hoon is delivering the welcome address.

President Lee Yong-hoon said, “The research achievements of UNIST, the core technology institution, the Small Giant Special Zone development platform of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the active administrative support of Ulsan City have cooperated to achieve these results,” and added, “We will continue to realize innovation in the future-type battery industry by linking large corporations and private investment platforms.”

Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs Ahn Hyo-dae said, “I hope Ulsan will become the vanguard in the secondary battery and advanced battery fields, which are new growth engines that Ulsan is focusing on,” and added, “Ulsan City will spare no support so that innovative startups and companies in the Small Giant Special Zone can become success models recognized by the nation and the world.”