"Model of Win-Win Cooperation Between Large Corporations and Startups"… Prime Minister Chung Visits LG Science Park

Sharing Opinions on Related Support Measures

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun visited LG Science Park in Magok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul on the 17th, listened to LG's startup incubation plans, and applauded.
[Photo by LG Group]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the morning of the 17th, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun visited LG Science Park in Magok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, to review the startup incubation programs supported by LG Group and discuss support measures for related fields.

On the same day, Prime Minister Chung, along with government officials including Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi, Deputy Minister Park Jin-gyu of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Deputy Minister Kang Seong-cheon of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and Small Business Ombudsman Park Ju-bong, checked the proprietary technologies introduced by the CEOs of startups residing in LG Science Park: ‘Ihae Lifestyle’ (developing augmented reality solutions for home and office spaces), ‘Luxon’ (developing immersive content for virtual reality games), and ‘HITS’ (discovering new drug candidates using AI).

Prime Minister Chung said, "Collaboration between large corporations and startups will benefit not only startups but also large corporations in developing innovative technologies and products," adding, "For the sustainability of our economy, we must move away from the past vertical and closed cooperation to an 'open and win-win collaboration' model."

Prime Minister Chung’s visit was made at the invitation of Kwon Young-soo, Vice Chairman of LG Corporation. Earlier, Vice Chairman Kwon attended the ‘Thursday Dialogue’ event held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in January, themed ‘New Win-Win Cooperation between Large Corporations and Startups,’ where he introduced LG Group’s interest and commitment to supporting startups.

Providing Internal Space to Promising Startups
11 Startups Residing
LG Driving Open Innovation

Since Koo Kwang-mo took office as chairman in 2018, LG Group has spared no effort in supporting promising domestic startups. A representative example is LG Science Park, which opened that year with an investment of 4 trillion won and is being utilized as a convergence R&D hub and a 'win-win cooperation hub' for nurturing startups.

Initially, LG Science Park could only be used by LG for its own research according to the conditions of moving into the Magok Industrial Complex. To resolve this regulation, LG petitioned the government, and in 2019, through consultations between the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the regulation was lifted, allowing internal spaces to be provided free of charge to startups, not just LG affiliates. Accordingly, LG Science Park rents out open research spaces such as the ‘Open Lab,’ 5G Innovation Lab, and joint experiment centers to promising startups. Currently, 11 startups reside there. Since 2018, LG has operated the startup collaboration event ‘LG Connect’ annually, discovering over 100 startups and assisting them in attracting external investments.

Additionally, LG AI Research Institute, established to promote artificial intelligence (AI), is considering collaboration with startups to develop AI algorithms that predict defects during the parts inspection stage. LG Display has entrusted startups with developing OLED content and solutions. This is an attempt to expand beyond existing partner companies to find future growth engines by working with startups handling new industries. Chairman Koo has consistently emphasized ‘open innovation,’ which transforms business methods and organizational culture and creates value through collaboration with external entities.

An LG official explained, "In a transitional period where new industries such as AI and 5G are explosively growing, it is difficult for large corporations to lead rapidly changing trends with their own capabilities alone," adding, "Based on the judgment that combining startups’ creative ideas with large corporations’ business capabilities to innovate existing business models and discover growth engines is essential, we are strengthening collaboration with promising startups."

Prime Minister Chung urged, "Following LG’s exemplary role in co-prosperity so far, I hope LG Science Park becomes a desirable model for creating a ‘win-win ecosystem’ and that the value of mutual growth spreads widely." LG Group announced that this year, major affiliates including LG Electronics, LG Chem, LG Uplus, and LG CNS will actively invest in startups possessing innovative technologies in AI, 5G, and ESG (environment, social, and governance) sustainability fields.

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