SME-KAIST Collaboration's 30 Billion Won Hit Shampoo: "You Can Do It Too"

4 Major Science and Technology Institutes to Hold Online Technology Presentation and Consultation Event on the 29th

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] #. The small and medium-sized enterprise BH Lab collaborated with Professor Lee Hae-shin of KAIST to develop a dyeing shampoo that generated a blockbuster revenue of 30 billion KRW. Professor Lee first developed a dyeing shampoo by adding polyphenol components based on the principle that apples turn brown when exposed to air, and BH Lab commercialized this technology into a shampoo. As a result, it achieved great success not only in domestic home shopping and online malls but also on Amazon, the world's largest online shopping mall.

The four major science and technology institutes in Korea, known as the '4 Major Science and Technology Institutes,' which are domestic advanced science and technology gifted education and research institutions, have taken steps to share their self-developed technologies with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies to trigger technological innovation in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The SME R&D Sharing Center, jointly established by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), announced on the 27th that it will hold a public workshop and real-time online technical consultation via ZOOM on the 29th for SMEs and mid-sized companies to explain the technologies they possess.

Since its opening at KAIST in April this year, the SME R&D Sharing Center has established a full-fledged promotion system by discovering more than 30 participating companies and conducting joint technology development in six technical divisions: advanced materials and components, process equipment, bio and healthcare, ICT/SW, mechanical aviation, and manufacturing automation and intelligence, with two or more professors from each institute collaborating in each division. Through this workshop, the center plans to expand its industry-academia cooperation network with SMEs by discovering new partner companies.

Lee Tae-eok, director of the SME R&D Sharing Center and professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at KAIST, explained, "Through the public workshop, we aim to solidify the role of a bridge connecting the technology demands of SMEs and mid-sized companies from the four major science and technology institutes," adding, "We hope to develop into a ‘virtual research center’ for SMEs and mid-sized companies with genuine momentum and sincerity for research and development and technological innovation."

At the success case sharing session on the day, in addition to the collaboration case between BH Lab and Professor Lee Hae-shin, presentations will be made on the case of Professor Ahn Kwang-jin of UNIST, who led the strengthening of technological competitiveness of SMEs by increasing manufacturing process efficiency by more than 6% and achieving an annual cost reduction effect of 2.2 billion KRW; the case of Capro; and the cases of DGIST Professor Moon Je-il and Cyrus and Radiant, who are contributing to the development of a multi-omics-based precision neuro-medicine ecosystem through industry-academia cooperation in new drug development.

Simultaneously with the workshop, real-time online technical consultations will be conducted for companies wishing to receive online technical support. SMEs wishing to participate in the workshop and real-time online technical consultation can apply in advance through the center’s website from the 27th to the 29th, and the online consultation will be held on the 29th from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM.

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