'Startup is the Future' Pohang-style Entrepreneurship ... Found the Answer!

Pohang City Delegation Visits Startup to Mid-sized Venture Company Nanoselect

Sorrento Valley, Hub of Advanced Technology, Biotechnology, and IT Industries... Benchmarking

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City visited Nanocellect Biomedical, a Korean startup recognized as a success story in San Diego, USA, to confirm the potential of startups and focus on the ‘innovation’ and ‘ideas’ that will lead the global new growth engine industry.

On the 17th, the Pohang delegation, including Mayor Kangdeok Lee and City Council Chairman Ingyu Baek, who are visiting the United States, met with Seonghwan Jo, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and co-founder of Nanocellect Biomedical in San Diego on the 15th (local time) to discuss plans and strategies for fostering a self-sustaining startup ecosystem.

On the 15th, the Pohang City delegation met with Cho Seong-hwan, CTO of NanoSelect Biomedical, a Korean startup recognized as a success story, in San Diego, USA, to discuss measures for fostering the startup ecosystem.

Nanocellect, founded by CTO Seonghwan Jo, is a company that contributes to the development of the bioindustry by producing bio-medical devices that analyze and selectively sort cells at a relatively low cost and small size, improving accessibility for researchers.

CTO Seonghwan Jo said, “Although we had ideas, we could not easily attract investment due to lack of experience. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in the U.S. provided funding based solely on technology and innovation.” He added, “With support from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), we succeeded in product development and investment attraction over five years, growing from a startup to a mid-sized bio venture company.”

In response, the Pohang delegation agreed on the need for continuous support for startups with technology and ideas and decided to maintain ongoing exchanges to foster a self-sustaining startup ecosystem in Pohang.

They also discussed benchmarking support systems like SBIR, private investment attraction, and startup incentives, as well as ways to integrate these into Pohang’s initiatives such as the Global Corporate Innovation Park and ESG Startup Cluster to create a ‘Pohang-style innovative startup ecosystem.’

Mayor Kangdeok Lee of Pohang said, “The reason many life science-based startups are established in San Diego is because technological innovation is supported not only in research but also in commercialization.” He added, “In Pohang, we will strive to overcome the crisis of population decline by fostering a startup ecosystem through continuous startup support and mutual growth with companies, thereby attracting young people.”

Afterwards, the delegation visited Sorrento Valley, a hub of advanced technology, biotechnology, and IT industries, to examine infrastructure for industrial agglomeration and corporate attraction.

In particular, they learned about Qualcomm’s settlement history and regional cooperation plans, which have greatly contributed to the development of Sorrento Valley and the local community, and explored ways to apply these to Pohang.

The Pohang delegation, visiting the U.S. to seek development plans linked to future new growth industries, concluded their San Diego schedule and arrived in Korea on the 17th, aiming to strengthen internal and external competitiveness by focusing on nurturing and discovering Pohang’s future core industries through business collaboration and networking.

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