"20 Successful Cases of 'Large Corporation-Startup Collaboration' in Future Cars and BIG3 Industries"

'The 13th Innovation Growth BIG3 Promotion Meeting' Held
Joint Detailed Support Tasks Prepared by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Other Ministries
Customized Support for Fabless Startups Including Bundle Ordering

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki is delivering opening remarks at the 13th Innovation Growth BIG3 Promotion Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 29th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government announced that it aims to create 20 successful collaboration cases between global companies and startups in the BIG3 sectors?future cars, bio, and semiconductors?by next year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced support measures for startups in the BIG3 sectors at the 13th Innovation Growth BIG3 Promotion Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office on the 29th.

The BIG3 sectors, including future cars, bio-health, and system semiconductors, are areas where startups find it difficult to commercialize independently due to the characteristics involving large-scale investments and infrastructure. As seen in recent cases like Tesla and Moderna, the importance of data and artificial intelligence (AI) convergence in the BIG3 industries is increasing, expanding collaboration between global companies and startups.

Accordingly, the government set a goal to create 20 practical collaboration success cases between global companies and startups in the BIG3 sectors by 2022 and prepared detailed support tasks jointly with related ministries.

Expansion of Collaboration Between Large Corporations and Startups in BIG3 Sectors

First, the Large Corporation-Startup Problem Solver Platform in the BIG3 sectors will be launched in full scale. The platform for autonomous driving in future cars is characterized by full support for various infrastructures involved in the demonstration of new technologies in autonomous driving through inter-ministerial cooperation.

During the contest period, free use of the test track within the 5G communication network-based autonomous driving experimental city K-City and safety evaluation equipment will be provided, along with 18 types of autonomous driving data held by public and private sectors such as Data Dam (AI Hub).

Demand companies such as Daechang Motors and Edison Motors will participate to jointly find companies to collaborate on future mobility businesses.

In the bio-healthcare sector, medical data held by demand companies, such as clinical data and biometric signals collected by medical devices, will be provided, and startups will solve problems using this data.

Leading domestic and international companies such as Celltrion, Seegene, and GE will participate in this sector. Tasks expected to grow significantly in the near future, such as non-face-to-face medical systems for infectious disease rooms, will be issued, raising expectations for successful cases.

In the system semiconductor sector, difficulties have increased due to the foundry supply shortage continuing since last year, delaying new product development and mass production of small and medium fabless (semiconductor design specialized companies), so customized support tasks have been newly established.

First, a bundled ordering method that collects product production demands from fabless companies and places orders collectively will be introduced. Bundled ordering is a method where orders for product production from fabless companies are gathered through domestic design houses and placed with foundries. This is expected to reduce costs and improve accessibility to foundries.

A new program will also be established to provide fabless companies with design automation software (EDA Tool) free of charge through cooperation with global suppliers such as Synopsys and Cadence. Through joint purchasing, suppliers will offer software at up to an 81% discount, and the government will cover the remaining cost to provide it free to fabless companies. Cooperation with public nanofabs will also be expanded starting in the second half of next year.

Plans to legislate incentives and support grounds to encourage private foundries to actively cooperate with ventures and startups will be discussed with the National Assembly and related ministries.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

2 Billion KRW Commercialization Fund Support... Incentives to Promote Private-led Expansion

Promising startups discovered through the Large Corporation-Startup Problem Solver Platform will receive up to 200 million KRW in commercialization funds.

Especially, in cases where practical joint commercialization with global companies occurs, such as supply contracts and joint R&D, the government will focus its policy capabilities on creating success cases by providing support such as 600 million KRW for R&D and 2 billion KRW for technology guarantees.

The government will also provide incentives and other support to expand global companies’ own startup collaboration programs domestically.

Minister Kwon Chil-seung of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, "This support plan was created by focusing on the high demand for collaboration with global companies and the recent difficulties faced by fabless startups," adding, "The goal is to achieve meaningful and tangible results, even if small."

He continued, "It is true that Korea still lacks an open innovation culture such as a horizontal collaboration structure," and stated, "We will make sure to create 20 meaningful collaboration cases with global companies and strive to spread these cases throughout the domestic BIG3 ecosystem."

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