The Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI, President Shin Hee-dong) is actively working to expand the deep tech startup ecosystem by fostering a culture of free, open, and communicative entrepreneurial challenges.

On the 24th, KETI held the 'FROM SCRATCH 2023' town hall meeting at its headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, to foster a flexible and challenging in-house startup culture and to discuss the operational direction of a new startup support platform.

'FROM SCRATCH' means 'from the very beginning,' 'from the start,' or 'from the starting line,' and conveys the meaning of standing at the starting line of a startup with a strong and challenging attitude, as well as the message of creating new management value by gathering creative and innovative ideas from KETI researchers.

This event was held in the form of a town hall meeting to facilitate free and open communication, serving as the first step toward advancing the innovative startup support system that links new technologies and markets and drives co-growth with startups.

In particular, we discussed measures to promote technology startups in the deep tech (advanced technology) field together with research institute startups Teraon Co., Ltd., Spintech Co., Ltd., and BionEver, as well as BluePoint Partners, a domestic startup accelerator (investment institution).

Teraon Co., Ltd. Senior Researcher Kim Yun-jin of the Nano-Convergence Research Center founded the company in November 2018 and is developing and mass-producing power semiconductor chip bonding materials, heater modules, and heating materials.

SpinTech Co., Ltd. was founded in March 2020 by Hyun-yong Choi, a principal at the IT Convergence Components Research Center, and is developing and mass-producing light sources/detectors for R&D, 32-channel scanning LiDAR, etc.

BionEver Co., Ltd. was founded in May 2022 by Senior Researcher Yong-seok Lim of the Smart Network Research Center and is developing electric vehicle wireless charging technology, charging control systems, etc.

KETI has established major research hubs in Seongnam (Pangyo), Seoul (Sangam and Yangjae), and Bucheon, where key players in advanced technology and business innovation are concentrated, providing excellent accessibility for startup collaboration. With research results in the deep tech field approaching the commercialization stage, KETI plans to continuously generate technology commercialization results by promoting the startup of researchers in the future.

KETI President Shin Hee-dong stated, “I keenly feel the need for a ‘technology startup cradle’ to support the emergence of cutting-edge technologies in the electronics and IT fields possessed by KETI,” adding, “Through this event, we will not only foster a free entrepreneurial spirit among all researchers, including the MZ generation, but also actively support the production of numerous deep tech innovation companies by strengthening support programs tailored to each growth stage of startups.”