SK Telecom Expands 5G Market: "Nurturing Promising Startups"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Jo] SK Telecom announced on the 26th that it will conduct the '5GX True Innovation Accelerator' program to discover and nurture innovative startups in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality (AR·VR), and other 5G specialized services.

This is SK Telecom's startup nurturing program, and this year, the support areas have been expanded to cover all fields of 5G specialized services. Startups with two or more members wishing to participate can submit their application forms on the related website from the 27th until April 5th. SK Telecom will select participating startups in May and operate a 20-week support and nurturing program from May to October. The service is scheduled to be officially launched in November.

SK Telecom will provide up to 15 startups with workspaces and test devices to serve as testbeds for new technologies and service demonstrations. Additionally, SK Telecom will invite internal staff and external experts to offer mentoring on business strategies, investment, and planning?areas where startups often feel lacking and which serve as stepping stones for growth into innovative companies. Networking opportunities will also be arranged to learn business strategies and external investment attraction know-how from related organizations and venture capitalists.

Along with this, startups selected this year will receive benefits from the 'Microsoft Startup Program' through strategic collaboration with Microsoft. Microsoft will support up to $120,000 in free credits for using the Azure cloud platform and related technologies, and will assist startups' global expansion through the Microsoft network and its co-sales programs.

Last year, over 130 startups applied in fields such as AR·VR, mobility, and security, and 18 companies were selected after a 7:1 competition ratio. An SK Telecom official said, "Among them, six startups are currently continuing technical collaboration with SK Telecom, and we expect visible results to be produced soon."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.