• Tangible & intangible infrastructure provided for business support to promising material companies such as startups and small~medium enterprises along with 15 cooperating organizations

• Total of 36 companies until the 3^rd members to support commercialization··· Sales and number of employees doubled, investment amount increased 15 times

   

SKC (CEO Lee Wan-jae) is selecting the 4^th members of “SKC Startup Plus” through the new material technology contest to start the activities. In this year’s 4^th session of SKC Startup Plus, companies with promising technology are selected to support commercialization through tangible and intangible resources in the “New Material Technology-_ base_d Open Platform (“Open Platform”)” participated in by various organizations.  

On the 10^th, SKC provided a total of 100 million Korean Won in commercialization support fund to 5 selected companies at the head office in Jongno-gu, Seoul to hold the “4^th SKC Startup Plus Kick-off Event” for introducing the Open Platform, the system for supporting the selected companies.

This event was participated in by the CEOs of the selected companies, Chairman Kwon Oh-kyong from the National Academy of Engineering of Korea—which is participating in the Open Platform—Nah Kyung-hwan, Head of the R&D Strategic Planning Group, Kim Jae-hoon, Head of the Ulsan Center for Creative Economy Innovation, Oh Jong-han, representative lawyer at the SHIN&KIM (Sejong Law Firm), Baek In-kyu, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Deloitte Anjin LLC, and Shin Sang-il, Head of the Large Enterprise Financial Center at Shinhan Bank.

SKC developed the “Open Platform” in 2017 with the Ulsan Center for Creative Economy Innovation, with the “SKC Startup Plus” Contest held every year from 2018 to select promising companies for support. The participating companies were expanded from startups to local society and small~medium enterprises, and agencies participating in the Open Platform were increased to 16 organizations. Last year, SKC agreed on a partnership with the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, the institution having the highest authority in the domestic engineering field.

This year, a total of 5 companies were selected. Companies with eco-friendly technology, mobility, and semiconductor material technologies such as ecomass with biodegradable film manufacturing technology, Chemifolio with bio-chemical ingredient technology, CHEONGMYEONG Advanced Materials that produces optical sheet applicable to the Smart window and next-generation display, S-Graphene that has the next-generation ultra-thin separation film technology on secondary battery, and BEAD ORIGIN that manufactures the core material for semiconductor CMP slurry were selected.

These companies will be provided with tangible and intangible infrastructure from 16 organizations participating in the Open Platform, with SKC providing the support fund for commercialization along with 45 years’ know-how on R&D and management as the material company. The Ulsan Center for Creative Economy Innovation provides training on business operation and follow-up businesses, and the Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information supports commercialization and research & planning capability upgrade. The R&D strategic planning group in the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy is in charge of policy training and system improvement, and Deloitte Anjin LLC provides accounting advice and connection with global investment companies. Shinhan Bank provides financing support _ base_d on technology valuation.

The National Academy of Engineering of Korea joined the Open Platform last year, and professional consulting is provided in detail in various fields such as management and R&D, etc. Korea Technology Finance Corporation provides matching _ base_d on the technology required for selected companies, with the Korea Startup Forum in charge of developing and supporting startups. Lastly, SHIN&KIM (Sejong Law Firm) provides legal advice, etc.

Last year, these participating organizations and SKC supported commercialization for 36 companies selected through the SKC Startup Plus Contest. As a result, the sales and number of employees of the selected companies in the first semester of this year doubled compared to before participating in the Open Platform, and the investment amount increased 15 times.

For example, Arun, the company that uses semiconductor micro-processing technology to manufacture the waste processing filter, performed the field test with SKC to receive the NET New Technology Certification from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy. It was also selected for the TIPS program by the Ministry of SMEs & Startups (MSS). ORION NES, the company that uses electro-chromic technology to manufacture the next-generation Smart window film, is developing the technology jointly with SKC, having received investment from the Small & Medium Business Corporation.

 “In recognition of win-win efforts centering on the Open Platform and SKC Startup Plus, SKC was selected as the 14^th ‘Voluntary Win-Win Cooperation Enterprise’, receiving the Minister Prize from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) last year. SKC will continue efforts to enable ‘SKC Startup Plus’ to become the top ‘Commercialization Support Program’ in Korea and to contribute to reinforcing the material industry ecosystem,” SKC personnel said.

[Introduction of Companies Selected in the 4^th SKC Startup Plus]

[Organizations Participating in the New Material Technology-Based Open Platform]