Mercedes-Benz Korea, Startup Autobahn 'Expo Day'... Performance Presentation by 5 Domestic Companies

Collaboration Opportunities for Selected Top Startups After Expo Day Ends

[Asia Economy Reporter Jihee Kim] Mercedes-Benz Korea will hold an online "Expo Day" on the 10th to share the development achievements of five domestic startups participating in the 100-day acceleration program of the Daimler Group's startup nurturing platform, "Startup Autobahn."

Startup Autobahn is a global open innovation platform established by the Daimler Group in 2016 to discover promising startups and build cooperative systems. Following Germany, the United States, India, and others, it was held for the seventh time worldwide in Korea, attracting high interest with about 100 companies participating in the recruitment.

Mercedes-Benz Korea, together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Seoul Startup Hub, and SparkLabs, launched Startup Autobahn and selected five companies through the Selection Day last August. Since then, it has provided a 100-day acceleration program offering customized solutions, professional mentoring, IR, publicity, marketing, and various know-how necessary for business operations to help startups achieve concentrated growth. Through this, participating startups collaborated with operational departments such as Mercedes-Benz Korea and Daimler Truck Korea to conduct pilot projects addressing various needs.

At this Expo Day event, held via online live broadcast, the five final selected companies?Seoul Robotics, Coconut Silo, Happy Technology, Thirteens Floor, and Vestella Lab?will introduce the results of their pilot projects conducted over the past 100 days.

After the Expo Day, outstanding startups will be given opportunities to participate in the Startup Autobahn in Germany and conduct pilot projects with the Daimler Group. Additionally, opportunities to participate in open innovation projects with domestic and international corporate partners will also be pursued.

The event will open with an online keynote speech by Sajjad Khan, Member of the Board and Head of Technology at Mercedes-Benz AG. Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will visit the site to encourage the participating startups for their contributions to creating an ecosystem in new industries and fostering innovative growth. Also present will be Jang Young-seung, CEO of Seoul Startup Hub, and Kim Ji-seop, Acting President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea.

Following this, Cochlear.ai, which was invited to Daimler headquarters through the "Connected Car Startup Hackathon" hosted by Mercedes-Benz Korea last year and had the opportunity to promote collaboration, and the UK startup "What3words," which currently has its service integrated into Mercedes-Benz's infotainment system MBUX navigation system through Startup Autobahn, will participate online to share their related experiences.

Philip Nighting, Head of Open Innovation at the Daimler Group, said, "I am very honored that excellent Korean startups with ambitious ideas and amazing technological capabilities can further enhance their business completeness through the Daimler Group's Startup Autobahn, held for the first time in Korea," adding, "Startup Autobahn will continue to serve as a foundation for spreading open innovation and as a representative venue for technological innovation."

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