Hwang Haeryeong, CEO of Lutronik, Awarded Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit This Year

Hwang Haeryeong, CEO of Lutronik.

On the 14th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the '2023 Venture Startup Promotion Merit Awards Ceremony' at EL Tower in Seoul.

The Venture Startup Promotion Merit Awards Ceremony is an event that honors individuals who have contributed to the development of the venture industry and innovative growth. It has been held since 1999, marking its 25th anniversary this year. This year's ceremony recorded a competition rate of about 17 to 1, and the final winners were selected through three rounds of rigorous evaluation.

The Gold Tower Industrial Medal was awarded to Hwang Haeryeong, CEO of Lutronik. CEO Hwang, who graduated from Yale University with a degree in economics, founded the company in 1997 and built a venture legend with a market capitalization of 963.4 billion KRW (as of the end of June). The company focused heavily on research and development, earning recognition as the top patent-holding SME (based on the 2017 Korea Intellectual Property Office announcement). As of the end of last year, the company had published 423 papers and held 741 intellectual property rights. It has grown into a global company with nearly 90% of its sales exported to North America and Europe, becoming Korea's leading medical device specialist company.

The Silver Tower Industrial Medal went to Lee Seonghyeon, CEO of Open Edge Technology, while the Industrial Packaging Medal was awarded to Kim Jindong, CEO of Lake Materials, and Kim Jiwon of AJU IB Investment. Open Edge Technology is a company that develops system semiconductor design technology essential for implementing artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Currently, it is in a phase focused on technology development, recording an operating loss of 20.7 billion KRW in the first to third quarters of this year. Despite the large deficit, it is one of the few listed companies in the domestic semiconductor design asset sector, having secured 51 license contracts cumulatively through the third quarter.

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated, “SMEs and venture companies account for 47% of domestic corporate sales and 81% of employment, making them the undisputed future growth engine of our economy. The direction for the venture industry going forward includes realizing the 'SMEs and Venture Companies 50 Plus' era by 2027, becoming Asia's number one and one of the top three global startup countries, and transitioning to a private-led venture investment market.”

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