Seven Innovative Startups Awarded
Support Provided to Strengthen Competitiveness
SK Ecoplant announced on July 4 that it held the 'Tech Open Collaboration' awards ceremony at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.
Now in its fifth year, the Tech Open Collaboration is an innovation technology contest for startups, organized and hosted by SK Ecoplant since 2021. The program discovers and awards startups with innovative technologies in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, and provides comprehensive support for business growth and competitiveness by collaborating on technology advancement and commercialization.
Institutions such as the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, Innopolis Foundation, Korea International Trade Association, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, KAIST, Hoseo University, Hannam University, SK Securities, and Korea Science & Technology Holdings, along with SK Ecoplant, participate in operating the contest and join in joint research and development with the award-winning companies.
At this year's awards ceremony, seven startups were selected as winners: ▲Enhitech (technology for producing semiconductor water and reusing process wastewater), ▲Quantumcat (catalyst technology for greenhouse gas reduction using nanostructure control), ▲Mobilio (solution to improve construction quality using quadrupedal walking robots), ▲LK Robotics (AI-based robot system compatible with CCTV), ▲Aitetech (smart resource recovery solution using AI and robots), ▲Binding (building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) for urban solar power), and ▲Incle (real-time shape measurement system for JCO pipe forming process of structural steel plates).
The winning companies will receive various forms of support aimed at strengthening their technological competitiveness and growth. They will conduct joint research and development with SK Ecoplant and its affiliates, and after advancing their technologies, will collaborate on commercialization and other business initiatives. In addition, the participating public, research, and investment institutions plan to support government funding and investment attraction.
Furthermore, SK Ecoplant is working to build and operate a variety of open innovation platforms, including technology contests, in cooperation with the government, public institutions, and investment organizations, striving for co-growth and the creation of a sustainable industrial ecosystem.
Kim Hyungkeun, CEO of SK Ecoplant, stated, "We expect to see open innovation synergy with the startups discovered through this contest," adding, "We will continue to work toward building a sustainable industrial ecosystem together with startups and small and medium-sized enterprises."
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