‘Large Corporation Challenges Solved by Startups’ Ministry of SMEs and Startups Launches New Contest (Comprehensive)

'The Power of Connection, Digital Dream 9' Applications Open from 31st to Next Month 20th
Up to 2.5 Billion KRW Support for Final Selected Startups

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the announcement ceremony for the new style contest "Power of Connection, Digital Dream 9" held on the 30th at Tipstown in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. This contest is a new large and small business win-win cooperation program in which the government matches tasks proposed by large corporations with SMEs. It aims to maximize the R&D achievements of SMEs by discovering tasks with definite demand while also pioneering sales channels, thereby maximizing the "Power of Connection" emphasized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] A new government-led matching-type contest program is launching, where large corporations propose challenges and small and medium-sized venture companies take on these challenges. The ‘Power of Connection,’ which solves small businesses’ technology development and market expansion through discovering tasks with definite corporate demand, is expected to lead to the establishment of next year’s ‘Dae-Star (Large Corporation-Startup) Solver Platform’ built by the government.

On the 30th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups unveiled the challenges along with the opening of a new style contest, ‘Power of Connection, Digital Dream 9,’ at Tipstown in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Nine domestic and international companies including KBS, LG Display, KT, LG U+, SKT, Philips, The Born Korea, Lotte Central Research Institute, and L’Or?al are participating in this contest. Various challenges were presented under themes representing the post-COVID-19 era such as artificial intelligence (AI) and content, immersive media, future mobility, digital healthcare, food tech, and eco-friendly materials.

First, in the AI and content field, KBS proposed ‘Development of a Mini-Series Performance Prediction AI Algorithm’ exploring the potential of terrestrial broadcasting and AI convergence, and LG Display presented a task for ‘Developing Content and Software Applicable to Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED).’ Additionally, Microsoft Korea is participating by providing cloud (Azure) and technical support for processing vast amounts of data.

Two challenges were discovered in the highly notable immersive media field. KT proposed ‘Development of an Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Service Solution’ focusing on maximizing immersion in sports, performances, and movies without having to visit stadiums or concert halls.

LG U+ set the task of ‘Maximizing the Liveliness and On-site Feeling of Professional Baseball,’ which requires inserting additional data such as ball trajectory for immersive baseball viewing, building a non-face-to-face cheering community system, and maintaining 8K high resolution.

The future mobility field aims to develop an integrated platform for various transportation means with SKT’s participation. Participating startups must present feedback models reflecting optimal route inference by situation and user preferences using 3D simulation technology supported by Dassault Syst?mes.

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is taking a commemorative photo with participants at the project launch ceremony of the new style contest "Power of Connection, Digital Dream 9," held on the 30th at Tipstown in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. From the left: Lee Jae-hwan, Executive Director of SK Telecom; Park Jung-ho, Executive Director of KT; Seo Heung-soo, Head of Strategic Planning Department at KBS; Choi Chang-guk, Executive Director of LG Uplus; Jang Hong-guk, Head of Partner Business Division at Microsoft Korea; Minister Park; Lim Jeong-hoon, Executive Director of Lotte Central Research Institute; Bae Ok-yeol, Executive Director of L'Or?al Korea; Cheon Tae-bong, Director of Theborn Korea; Kim Hyo-seok, Head of Philips Business Division; Jeong Ryun, General Manager of Policy Cooperation at Dassault Syst?mes Korea; Kim Hee-yeon, Executive Director of LG Display.

This contest is a new type of large and small business win-win cooperation program in which the government matches tasks proposed by large corporations with SMEs. It aims to maximize the R&D achievements of SMEs by discovering tasks with definite demand while also pioneering sales channels, thereby maximizing the "Power of Connection" emphasized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

In the food tech field, The Born Korea, a leading domestic franchise, participated. The Born Korea aims to secure the consistency of the taste of its main menu ‘Jjamppong’ from its flagship brand Hong Kong Banjeom and manage taste quality. They requested the development of an AI sensor that substitutes human senses to identify factors affecting taste and detect variations.

Additionally, the digital healthcare field aims to discover startups developing hospital infection disease and inpatient monitoring solutions to protect medical staff from infectious diseases like COVID-19, as well as AI-based patient analysis solutions.

Moreover, startups challenging the eco-friendly materials field must solve tasks proposed by Lotte Central Research Institute and L’Or?al: ‘Development of a Single-Structure Transparent Eco-Friendly Beer PET Material*’ to address the recycling problem of brown beer PET bottles in the market, and ‘Development of Eco-Friendly Plastic Alternative Materials for L’Or?al Cosmetics Packaging for E-commerce Customers.’

The contest proceeds in three stages: ▲Idea evaluation focusing on innovation and creativity ▲Face-to-face evaluation focusing on technical feasibility ▲Two-month task resolution and advancement evaluation. After the final pitching in November, three teams will be selected and supported with up to 2.5 billion KRW for commercialization, technology development, and special technology guarantees.

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “Beyond the vertically integrated and closed collaboration of large corporations, it is necessary to create an ecosystem where large and small-medium enterprises can grow together through open collaboration with external startups.” She added, “Based on the results of this contest, the Ministry will establish the ‘Dae-Star Solver Platform’ from next year to connect startups to solve problems of large corporations.”

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