Gyeongbuk Province Awards 'Gyeongbuk Startup Innovation Prize' to 10 Tech Innovation Companies

On October 25th, Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 2nd that at the opening ceremony of the ‘2023 Gyeongbuk Startup Investment Matching Day’ held at Pohang Changeup Ground, the ‘Gyeongsangbuk-do Startup Innovation Award’ was presented to 10 outstanding venture and startup companies in the Gyeongbuk region that possess technological innovation and growth potential.

The ‘Gyeongsangbuk-do Startup Innovation Award’ is selected annually by comprehensively evaluating quantitative scores such as sales growth rate, technology development, external investment attraction, and job creation performance, along with qualitative evaluation scores from external expert judges, targeting high-growth outstanding companies recommended by city, county, and related corporate organizations.

Ten CEOs of companies awarded the Gyeongbuk Startup Innovation Award are gathered in one place for a commemorative photo.

Among the award-winning companies, Seongwang E&F Co., Ltd. (Gimcheon), founded in 2020, succeeded in joint research and development of an eco-friendly wooden straw automatic line with local university research institutes and, after several trials and errors, established the world’s first ‘eco-friendly wooden straw automatic line.’

In addition, the company completed domestic patent registration for the eco-friendly wooden straw and applied for international patents in Europe, the United States, China, and Japan, earning recognition as an environmental conservation merit company at the 27th ‘Environment Day’ in 2022.

Green Package Solution Co., Ltd. (Gumi) is a specialized company in eco-friendly new material packaging that replaces plastic and styrofoam, which account for a large portion of environmental pollution. By specially processing non-wood plant-based materials, the company has continuously conducted research and development and quality improvement efforts to secure sturdiness, standardization, and mass production?essential conditions for industrial packaging?resulting in multiple patent registrations and industrial property rights.

Elline Co., Ltd. (Gumi) is a company composed of technology-based engineers, achieving technological development results such as autonomous driving robot production, development of a high-speed stamping machine for secondary battery PLC automation, and collaborative development of small mobility battery packs using waste batteries. Through creative kit development projects, it has contributed to securing high-quality instructors and job creation, being selected as an excellent talent nurturing company by the Ministry of Education.

Haps Co., Ltd. (Gumi) is a company developing core technologies necessary for hydrogen fuel cells, which are attracting attention as future energy sources. It is promoting fuel cell stack platform business, fuel cell power pack business, and power generation fuel cell engineering commercialization, and has been recognized for its technological capabilities by undertaking various research projects from central government ministries.

In addition, Ograe Agricultural Corporation Co., Ltd. (Seongju), Hesed Bio Co., Ltd. (Pohang), Eastern Gear Co., Ltd. (Chilgok), Carat Fund Co., Ltd. (Pohang), B2Lab Co., Ltd. (Pohang), and Clumatic Co., Ltd. (Gyeongsan) were also honored with awards.

The selected companies will receive various corporate support benefits such as preferential support for venture business development funds (300 million KRW), priority support for research and development, participation in overseas exhibitions, and will be recommended for the venture fund established by Gyeongbuk Province.

Lee Dal-hee, Deputy Governor for Economy of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “The companies selected this time are representative companies that will lead the future of our region through continuous growth,” and added, “I hope that the research and development achievements made through the passionate spirit of challenge of these companies will be commercialized, creating good jobs and becoming unicorn companies representing Gyeongsangbuk-do that grow together with the region.”

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