Uijeongbu City Hosts Finals of 'Uijeongbu Innovation City Startup Challenge'

Uijeongbu City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Dong-geun) announced on the 12th that it held the finals of the ‘2024 Uijeongbu Innovation City Startup Challenge’ in collaboration with the Gyeonggi Content Agency (Director Tak Yong-seok).

Mayor Kim Dong-geun is taking a commemorative photo with the award-winning companies of the '2024 Uijeongbu Innovation City Startup Challenge.' Provided by Uijeongbu City

This event is the first audition in Korea led by a local government to select early-stage startups, aimed at discovering, nurturing, and supporting excellent research projects in the content field that can be applied to Uijeongbu city administration.

Nineteen early-stage startups participated in the call for applications held in July, and five companies were selected to advance to the finals after preliminary document and presentation screenings in August.

The selected companies have participated in the ‘Proof of Concept (PoC) Advancement Program’ to verify the feasibility of their research projects and to concretize their execution plans. Additionally, Uijeongbu city officials and representatives from participating organizations were assigned as dedicated personnel to provide administrative counseling (mentoring), investment attraction (pitching), and consulting advice.

The event was held at Cafe Anakia in an open format, attended by representatives and employees of the five selected companies, evaluation committee members composed of corporate technology experts, city hall and related institution officials, as well as general citizens.

Prior to the event, following a congratulatory performance by the popera group Amante, CEO Kang Jae-sang of Pathfinder Net, who was in charge of the selection evaluation and educational programs, and representatives of the finalist companies shared anecdotes and impressions about their collaboration process with Uijeongbu city departments and public institutions.

The final competition proceeded with 15-minute presentations and Q&A sessions from each company, and the judging panel comprehensively evaluated technological excellence, commercialization potential, and suitability for city administration to select the final award-winning companies.

The award-winning companies are ▲ NoiLab, which developed a brain exercise service for dementia prevention (Grand Prize) ▲ TG Society Co., Ltd., which developed an alternative to illegal driving training and customized driving education content services within Uijeongbu City (Excellence Award) ▲ Bitnaneun Content, which developed brand content for small business owners and youth (Merit Award) ▲ ArtRip Korea, which developed eco-friendly upcycling content (Merit Award) ▲ Instedi Club, which possesses technology to produce cultural content in multiple languages (Encouragement Award).

NoiLab, the Grand Prize winner, will receive a prize of 20 million KRW and an opportunity to conduct a Proof of Concept (PoC) project with the city.

Mayor Kim Dong-geun stated, “We will establish a support process to revitalize technological innovation and the startup ecosystem so that entrepreneurs can settle in Uijeongbu. In particular, we hope that young entrepreneurs in the region will grow and have a positive impact on the local economy.”