Industry-Academia Collaboration Shapes Future of Universities and Companies... Dong-Eui University LINC3.0 Project Group, Lab Rental → Tech Company Creation

Development of AI-Based Shoe Manufacturing Platform Through Collaboration

Christine Company 'Sinple' Leads Shoe Industry AX

"Industry-academia cooperation is the future of universities."

The LINC3.0 Project Group at Dong-Eui University awarded certificates to three companies?ByteSize Co., Ltd., Ajin X-Tech Co., Ltd., and Christine Company Co., Ltd.?selected to participate in the Lab Rental program last August.

Dong-Eui University's Lab Rental program is an industry-academia cooperation project where company practitioners reside at the university lab and collaborate with experts (professors) to develop technology using specialized equipment. Companies can enhance their technological innovation capabilities, while the university achieves outcomes such as talent cultivation and technology transfer.

Recently, Christine Company Co., Ltd., participating in the Lab Rental program with Dong-Eui University's LINC3.0 Project Group, received the Encouragement Award in the Technology Cooperation category at the "2024 Industry-Academia Cooperation Excellence Case Competition" for their joint industry-academia project developing 'SINPLE.'

This competition, hosted by the National Research Foundation of Korea, aims to discover institutions and organizations striving to activate industry-academia cooperation and to identify, share, and disseminate excellent cases. Dong-Eui University's Industry-Academia Cooperation Group received the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Award. This has become widely known as a successful exemplary case of the Busan Metropolitan City's local government-industry-university (Ji-San-Hak) cooperation system.

Dong-Eui University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation awarded the Minister of Education Award.

Christine Company Co., Ltd., which has entered a growth trajectory through selection for the Scale-up TIPS program by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is collaborating with DXLab (Data Experience Lab, Professor Kim Seong-hee, Department of Industrial ICT Engineering, Vice Director of the Industry-Academia Cooperation Group). Two company employees are stationed at the university center, responsible for developing and operating the company's core resource, the "AI-based Shoe Manufacturing Platform."

Professor Kim Seong-hee of Dong-Eui University's Department of Industrial ICT Engineering developed the shoe manufacturing AI platform 'SINPLE' in the first half of last year through joint industry-academia research with the local startup Christine Company (CEO Lee Min-bong). 'SINPLE,' which automatically matches shoe factories and brands for collaboration, has grown into an online shoe manufacturing specialized platform with participation from about 250 brands and 450 factories, representing 44% of the 1,020 domestic shoe factories, within six months of commercialization.

Christine Company is a shoetech company leading the digital transformation (DX) of the shoe industry by integrating advanced technology into shoe manufacturing and distribution. Professor Kim and Christine Company developed 'SINPLE' as a TIPS project supported by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups from 2021 to 2023, receiving an 'Excellent' evaluation.

Professor Kim said, "To make one shoe, about 100 processes such as sole, insole, and sewing are required, and shoe brands are mainly located in Seoul while factories are concentrated in Busan. It is not easy for brands in Seoul to identify the best factories for each process, so together with CEO Lee Min-bong, we created 'SINPLE,' an IT platform for Busan shoe factories."

Professor Kim provided technical advice on the system construction, direction, and roadmap establishment of SINPLE.

Campus view of Dong-Eui University.

In June, the development of a "Generative AI Technology-Based Shoe Design Human-AI Collaboration System" was selected as a Scale-up TIPS project by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The Scale-up TIPS program supports promising manufacturing companies by linking private investment.

If a private operator invests more than 1 billion KRW, the government provides up to 2 billion KRW as investment-type R&D funds and an additional maximum of 1.2 billion KRW over three years as investment-linked R&D funds.

Professor Kim Seong-hee explained, "The selection for Scale-up TIPS is significant because it enables the development of generative AI technology at an international level comparable to the US and China, specifically in the shoe and fashion fields."

Also, CEO Lee Min-bong of Christine Company attended the "2024 Small and Medium Enterprise Innovation Network Forum" held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Jeju on August 13-14 and presented a successful case of corporate AI transformation (AX).

At the forum, CEO Lee introduced 'SINPLE,' the only domestic digital collaboration platform for shoe manufacturing developed by Christine Company, stating, "Based on SINPLE, we have led the AX of the shoe industry, achieving advancement and high added value, and presented a direction for the future of regional traditional industries."