Demand Companies and Startups Form One Team... KISED Hosts InnoWave League

10 Consortia Present Collaborative Achievements
Grand Prize Awarded to LambdaMicro and Wonik QnC Consortium

A platform was held where demand companies and startups formed a "One Team Consortium" to jointly plan and propose projects.

The Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development is taking a commemorative photo after holding the open innovation program "InnoWave League" at Dragon City in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development

The Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development announced on the 3rd that it hosted the open innovation program "InnoWave League" at Dragon City in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Now in its second year, the InnoWave League is a program that realizes open innovation by combining the innovative technologies of leading-edge startups with the demonstration environment and commercialization infrastructure of demand companies. Unlike the traditional approach where startups submitted proposals independently, this program features demand companies and startups forming a "One Team Consortium" to collaboratively plan and propose projects.

This year, a total of 41 large, mid-sized, and public demand companies expressed their intention to participate in the InnoWave program, while 156 leading-edge startups attended the meet-up event and engaged in one-on-one matching consultations. After the submission of collaboration proposals and the "InnoWave Day" presentation evaluation, a final selection of 10 consortia carried out PoC (Proof of Concept) projects. The InnoWave League serves as the final stage where these teams present and are evaluated on the results of their months-long collaborations, and where outstanding cases are recognized and awarded.

At the event, the 10 consortia fiercely competed as they presented their collaborative achievements before a panel of judges composed of investors and industry experts. After each presentation, there were heated discussions on site regarding practical applicability, scalability, and global competitiveness.

According to the evaluation results, the grand prize went to the LambdaMicro and Wonik QnC consortium, which carried out the project "Development of Microwave Curing-Based High-Hardness and High-Chemical-Resistance Polymer Coating Technology and Application to Semiconductor Process Components." The top excellence award was given to the CG Inside and Seoul Metropolitan Government consortium for their project "Development of an AI App for Seoul Youth Housing Policy." The excellence award went to the Graphy and Hanwha Ocean consortium for their project "Establishment of AI for Process Risk Prediction."

The LambdaMicro and Wonik QnC consortium, which received the grand prize, stated, "We believe this project is a small starting point for enhancing the stability and productivity of Korea's semiconductor processes. We will continue to advance our high-chemical-resistance polymer coating technology to become a game changer in the field of semiconductor heat treatment."

Yoo Jongpil, President of the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, said, "InnoWave is a new type of open innovation platform where leading-edge startups with innovative technologies and demand companies facing real-world challenges define problems as a 'One Team' and create solutions together. Through InnoWave, we will continue to support more One Team consortia between startups and demand companies so they can create new success stories."

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