KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo: "We Will Support the Korean New Deal by Coexisting with SMEs"

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] KT has been recognized for its 'win-win efforts' with partner companies and became the Patent Office's first 'Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) company.' The MOU topic is 'Domestic companies' win-win efforts and the spread of trade secret protection culture.'

At the signing ceremony held on the 10th, KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo said, "Close cooperation with small and venture companies with excellent technology is essential to realize KT's vision of changing customers' lives and leading innovation in other industries," adding, "KT will actively strive to protect valuable technological assets and trade secrets so that excellent small and venture companies become the main players of the 'Korean New Deal.'"

The Patent Office selects companies that hold trade secrets and have a willingness to protect technology as priority candidates for the agreement. KT was highly evaluated for its efforts to protect partner companies' technical data and trade secrets and thus participated as the first agreement company. The signing ceremony was attended by Patent Office Commissioner Park Won-joo, KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo, and representatives from two major KT partner companies (Jung Sang-ho, CEO of Hightech, and Heo Kyung-soo, CEO of DKI Technology). The Patent Office and KT expect this agreement to be an important opportunity for domestic small and venture companies to alleviate concerns about the theft of their core technologies and to spread a culture of trade secret protection.

KT has continuously strived for mutual growth with small partner companies. In 2015, KT introduced the 'Trade Secret Original Certification Service' to protect the technological assets of small partners. In 2018, KT created and implemented practical guides and manuals for managing technology and idea data to prevent leakage of partner companies' technical information. Last year, KT automated the entire process from idea proposals to storage and disposal of technical data for partners. KT has consistently worked to protect partner companies' trade secrets, including establishing a management system that makes content leakage fundamentally impossible, the first among Korea's three major telecom companies.

The main content of this agreement is that large corporations and partner companies protect each other's and their own trade secrets and technologies, and partner companies build trade secret management systems with support from the Patent Office. According to the agreement, the Patent Office and KT will support partner companies with trade secret protection consulting, trade secret protection education, and trade secret management system establishment as needed.

Partner companies will establish trade secret protection systems tailored to their management environment, raise awareness among employees about the importance of protecting trade secrets, and cooperate to prevent the leakage of trade secrets and technologies jointly held with large corporations. Patent Office Commissioner Park Won-joo said, "I hope this agreement becomes an opportunity for large corporations and partner companies to protect each other's trade secrets and establish good secret management systems," adding, "I hope there will be no unfortunate cases where technology is leaked but not managed as a secret and thus does not receive legal protection."

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