Special Zone Foundation and SK Ecoplant to Support Full Growth Cycle of Deep Tech Companies

The Research and Development Special Zone Promotion Foundation (Special Zone Foundation) and SK Ecoplant are supporting the full growth cycle of deep tech companies.

The Special Zone Foundation announced on May 7 that it will jointly host the “Tech Open Collaboration Open Innovation Technology Contest” with SK Ecoplant until May 19 this year.

Lim Muntek, Head of the Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone Headquarters at the Special Zone Foundation, is introducing the purpose and progress of the contest to attendees at the contest briefing session held on the 7th. Special Zone Promotion Foundation

This contest, marking its sixth edition this year, is an “open innovation program” that seeks to discover promising deep tech companies and establish a growth ladder for them through joint technology development, technology demonstration, investment linkage, and commercialization.

After targeting innovative companies in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, the Special Zone Foundation and SK Ecoplant plan to conduct document evaluations and two rounds of presentations before selecting and awarding a final six companies in July.

The contest is open to the following sectors: ▲Industrial AI ▲Generative AI ▲AI Security ▲Wearable AI ▲Robots and Drones ▲Semiconductor EPC ▲Eco-friendly Semiconductors ▲Other fields.

Companies selected as winners of the contest will be given opportunities for joint technology development and verification with SK Ecoplant. In addition, they will be eligible for investment and business commercialization support from 18 partner organizations, including SK Securities.

In fact, companies selected in last year’s contest have continued collaborations with SK Ecoplant in the ultrapure catalyst field.

For example, N-Hitech Co., Ltd. is currently conducting overseas demonstrations, equivalent to substituting imported technologies, for UV-based ultrapure and process wastewater purification in joint partnership with SK Ecoplant. The company also secured an investment of 300 million won from Synergy IB Investment and was selected for the TIPS program, thereby achieving subsequent funding linkage.

Separately, Cepratec Co., Ltd. established PureBridge Co., Ltd. within the zone last November to localize industrial semiconductor ultrapure degassing membrane module technology. In December of the same year, the company acquired “porous thin film manufacturing” technology from Chungnam National University and registered as a research institute spin-off. Currently, it is laying the foundation for commercialization through overseas demonstration collaboration with SK Ecoplant.

Jung Heekwon, Chairman of the Special Zone Foundation, stated, “The Special Zone is a growth platform that allows deep tech companies to verify their technologies and connect to investment and commercialization. The Special Zone Foundation will actively support the entire growth cycle of deep tech companies by linking large enterprise demand with innovative company technologies, helping excellent technologies expand beyond industrial sites to the global market.”

Meanwhile, on May 7, the Special Zone Foundation and SK Ecoplant held a contest briefing session at the Daedeok Tech Biz Center in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. The session introduced SK Ecoplant’s technology needs by business division, areas of cooperation, and provided an opportunity to discuss possibilities for subsequent technology verification and commercialization collaborations with participating companies.

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