● 85 developers participated in the contest, showing a competition ratio of 17 to 1 ... Selection of five new materials technologies with high growth potential

● 100 million won granted to help successful commercialization ... Separate website developed to support……

SKC (Wanjae Lee, CEO) has begun offering full-scale support for five new materials technology developers selected through the new materials technology contest called ‘Startup Plus’ it conducted jointly with the Wulsan Creative Economic Reform Center and Seonbo Angel Partners. The contest is designed to help develop a healthy industrial ecosystem by providing businesses equipped with outstanding ideas with SKC’s tangible and intangible resources, and actively participating in activities aimed at extending a sharing infrastructure as pursued by SKC. Some 85 developers participated in the recent contest conducted from 8 March to 27 April, showing a competition ratio of 17 to 1.

SKC Holds Start-up Plus 1st Term Workshop on 24th ... Grants start-up capital funds and shares support details

SKC provided five new materials technology developers with grants amounting to 100 million won to assist their R&D and commercialization and held the SKC Start-up Plus 1st Term Workshop in order to explain the directions and details of the support. Active support was committed at the event participated by the five newly selected developers, Wanjae Lee, SKC CEO, Yeonghae Kweon, Director, Wulsan Creative Economic Reform Center, and Yeongchan Choe, CEO, Seonbo Angel Partners.

[A commitment to successful business was made on 24th by SKC CEO Wanjae Lee (6th from left), together with the five newly selected developers, Yeonghae Kweon, Director of the Wulsan Creative Economic Reform Center (3rd from left), and Yeongchan Choe, CEO of Seonbo Angel Partners (2nd from left).]

The five developers – namely Nopion (CEO Kyeongseob Lee), Dop (CEO Yongwu Shin), Lip-high (CEO Byeongdong Kim), Marine Filter (CEO Wanyeong Cha), and C&C Materials (CEOs Seongwung Choe and Jaeyeong Choe) - were selected according to such criteria as growth potential, technological merits, distinctiveness, and commercialization plans. SKC, the Wulsan Creative Economic Reform Center, and Seonbo Angel Partners selected thirteen candidates through an initial _ _ document__-_ _ base__d screening, and selected the five finalists through a presentation-_ _ base__d assessment on 14th.

Products with high growth potential selected, including materials for wearable appliances, foldable display devices, and environmentally-friendly air filters

Nopion has developed an improved self-assembly type ACF that can be used to electrically connect parts circuits onto display panels. Nopion’s ACF offers excellent performance, including tight adhesion and contact resistance coupled with weaker pressure compared to existing ACFs. In particular, it is ideal for the film-type motherboards of wearable appliances. Film-type motherboards are difficult to use on existing ACFs as they are vulnerable to both high temperature and high pressure. Nopion’s ACF shows highly promising growth potential as the era of wearable appliances is rapidly approaching.

Dop has developed a technology for coating transparent electrodes for foldable display devices. Existing ITOs used as touch-sensor transparent electrodes on display devices are too hard to fold, while foldable silver nano wire electrodes have a shortcoming in that they can hardly realize low resistance while maintaining high transparency or light penetration. Dop’s transparent electrodes, however, do not break when folded as they have a diameter of roughly 3mm, are sensitive to stimulus or tough as they realize low resistance. In addition, they are easy to produce.

Lip-high has designed a 3rd-generation smart window technology whose glass brightness varies depending on the electric signals. While it is impossible to produce large 1st-generation smart windows, large 2nd-generation smart windows can be made but their color-variation is slow and they require a complicated manufacturing processes. Lip-High’s smart window is produced by sequentially vacuum vaporing a thin solid film membrane on glass or film. Its production cost is low because the defect rate is low and productivity is high. Furthermore, as its color-variation is quick, it can be applied to both small and large windows.

Marine Filter has succeeded in replacing the wood pulp and glass fiber used in filters with a pulp made from marine plants. Wood pulp tends to damage forests while glass fiber pollutes the environment as it does not dissolve quickly. Marine plants or seaweeds Marine Filter has adopted for filter grow rapidly with a short growth cycle and is environmentally-friendly as they are dissolved naturally. The production process of the new filters does not use any chemical substances, consumes little energy thanks to its simplicity, and can filter micro dust due to its dense but thin structure. A marine filter for use an air filter for automobiles is currently under development.

C&C Materials, a company that produces innovative materials _ _ base__d on nano coating, received a highly positive _ _ eval__uation of its powder coating technology which can coat a real-bone ingredient onto artificial bones. When coated artificial bones are inserted into cavities made in dentary bones during implant treatment, they heal quickly as they adhere to the dentary bones speedily. In addition, C&C Materials also introduced a copper powder that is widely used to coat electronic devices, rather than the silver and diamond powder (for coating nickel on files and band saws) that is used to produce semicon wafers.

The Ulsan Creative Economic Reform Center will provide basic education while SKC will provide practical support and Seonbo Angels Partners will induce venture capital funds

The selected developers will receive education and practical support from SKC and the Ulsan Creative Economic Reform Center from the day. The Ulsan Creative Economic Reform Center will provide basic startup education including business management, patents and investment. SKC will provide more practical support including opportunities to exchange technologies with SKC R&D, which will analyze any new materials and test prototypes at the request of the developers. It will also provide them with infrastructure services related to legal, financial and patent issues. To that end, SKC has developed a website introducing over 200 services that can be shared with them, and will also solve various issues on their behalf.

Seonbo Angel Partners, the manager of TIPS, as well as an angel investor and a start-up venture capital company, will induce angel investment for the developers. It aims to arrange up to one billion won of investment for superior developers among the five teams in cooperation with TIPS.

“The five developers selected through the contest have presented five promising new technologies that will help enhance the competitiveness of the related industries and develop the local materials industries when they are commercialized,” said Kidon Won, SKC vice-president and chair of the Infrastructure Sharing Committee. “We believe they will all achieve great success as they have already started active communication with SKC’s R&D and business units.” [End]