What are some promising business items for small and medium-sized enterprises of the future?

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), which has been discovering promising future technologies every year, has announced promising technologies for commercialization by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) this year as well.

KISTI investigated and analyzed the investment history of overseas venture capital for the 80 items selected in the first evaluation. We discovered items by inferring the reaction and outlook in the investment market through the growth rate and growth trend of VC investment in the item.

The ICT manufacturing/service sector has a total of 14 items, including ▲UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) ▲WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) ▲Public robot ▲Small cell ▲Realistic educational program ▲WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network) ▲Home gateway ▲Night vision camera system ▲SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) ▲GIS program ▲Structure health monitoring system ▲BLDS motor driver ▲Magnetic resonance wireless charger ▲Optical transmission device, etc.

Drones, public robots, small cells...

First, a UAV is an aircraft that can fly autonomously without a pilot, either by recognizing its surroundings through a pre-programmed program or by the aircraft itself.

It has been used for agricultural and meteorological observation purposes in addition to military purposes, but the market size is expected to grow in the future as its use in the distribution and IT fields increases.

WPAN is a location-aware multi-sensor network module that has a wider range of networking speeds and higher data rates than existing sensor networks.It provides a level of location awareness.

In addition, public robots, whose primary purpose is to provide public services for crime prevention and disaster relief related to social safety, have become increasingly necessary for unmanned robots in disaster situations following the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.

Small cells are ultra-small mobile base stations that complement the coverage of macrocells by providing greater data processing capacity and indoor coverage. Femtocells, picocells, and microcells are representative examples of small cells. They are being widely adopted due to changes in mobile network architecture tailored to user wireless environments.

Attention is being paid to realistic educational programs based on virtual reality.

Realistic educational programs utilize virtual content to facilitate learning through user interaction. They include mixed reality/augmented reality/virtual reality-based e-learning technologies to enhance presence and immersion, enabling three-dimensional explanations of various principles and enhancing learner immersion.

WBAN (Wireless Body Area Network) is a personal area network technology that measures biometric information inside the human body using wearable and ingestible/body-attached sensors or devices, wirelessly transmits the generated data, and utilizes it in various medical fields. With the rapid growth of the U-health market, demand for network technology between wearable devices is increasing, and future market expansion is expected.

Home gateways are gateway devices that provide intelligent home network services such as home entertainment, home automation, and healthcare services. Demand for home gateways is expected to increase due to the recent proliferation of network-based smart home appliances.

The night vision camera system is a forward monitoring and obstacle detection system that increases the safety of a vehicle by providing visual information to help drivers detect dangerous situations at night.

SCADA is a management system that monitors and controls facilities connected via wired and wireless networks over a wide area. Operating on a closed network isolated from external networks and using private protocols, it refers to an infrastructure system primarily used for centralized monitoring and control of wide-area public facilities such as energy and environmental facilities. This field is expected to see mid- to long-term growth due to the increasing importance of cybersecurity, growing energy and environmental issues, and the Internet of Things.

GIS programs are programs that input attribute information and location information about natural and artificial objects in the national space into a computer and store it in a database, which is then used for various planning and decision-making purposes. This is a field with high public utilization and linkage with large portal site services by incorporating big data technology, which has recently been in the spotlight.

The structural health monitoring system uses fiber optic sensors to monitor the health of civil engineering structures, providing information on structural defects more quickly and minimizing current damage.

BLDS motor market is growing rapidly, but domestic companies are only a small part of it.

BLDS motors are brushless and consist of a permanent magnet rotor and a stator with windings. The BLDS motor driver is a module that controls the motor's functions, including forward/reverse rotation, braking, and speed control. While the market size is growing (USD 8.4 billion in 2014), domestic companies operating in both domestic and international markets remain minimal.

Magnetic resonance wireless chargers are a wireless power transmission technology that utilizes the principle of magnetic resonance between coils with the same resonant frequency to wirelessly transfer electrical energy to a target device. They are gaining traction for their ability to address space constraints and enhance user convenience.

An optical transmission device refers to equipment that uses optical fiber as a transmission medium and exchanges and transmits large-capacity service traffic. It can address the surge in IP traffic while reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and providing high-quality transmission performance.

In addition, KISTI selected 7 items in the electrical/mechanical/equipment sector: ▲EV charging system ▲Green car light compressor ▲Automotive sensor (position/pressure/temperature/angular velocity sensor) ▲Sludge Treatment System ▲Full HD video surveillance device ▲Automotive gas sensor ▲Laser microprocessing and cutting machine.

In the chemical/materials sector, five items were discovered, including ▲mid- and large-sized secondary battery cathode materials ▲hydrogen storage containers ▲semiconductor process trays ▲eco-friendly deicers ▲precursors for semiconductor ALD, and in the bio/medical sector, seven items were selected, including ▲3D scanners ▲digital PCR ▲artificial cochleas ▲electronic health records ▲ultrasound imaging diagnostic devices ▲artificial joints ▲OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography).

Seo Jin-i, director of KISTI's Technology Innovation Analysis Center, said, "KISTI has developed, applied, and advanced its own unique framework for discovering promising small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) businesses ," adding, " We will discover and select promising business items through SME needs analysis , business area definition , industry analysis , technology analysis , market analysis, and evaluation, and carry out follow-up projects such as technology acquisition and commercialization strategies . "