A group photo commemorating the selection of 10 startups in 2024 KT Collaboration | Photo provided by Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation
The Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (GCCEI), led by Director Won-kyung Kim, has announced the selection of 10 innovative startups for the ‘2024 KT Collaboration’ program in partnership with KT (CEO Young Shub Kim). A formal agreement ceremony was held to mark the beginning of this collaborative initiative.
‘2024 KT Collaboration’ is GCCEI’s flagship open innovation program, which has been running since 2017. It facilitates collaboration between KT and over 100 startups. This year’s call for applications began in July and saw the highest number of entries in the program’s history, with a selection rate of about 32:1. The 10 chosen startups were evaluated based on their innovation and potential for collaboration with KT.
The following startups finalized business agreements through the ceremony: Wesop, Superb AI, Ilman Baekman, VESSL AI, PYLER, KL Cube, VISIONSPACE, 3DLabs, PIAspace, and Dobby Canvas.
During the event, the selected startups presented their company profiles and outlined their collaborative commercialization plans. Following these presentations, GCCEI and the startups formalized their support agreements. The partnerships will advance into three months of business collaboration with KT.
An Open Innovation Team representative from GCCEI remarked, “This ceremony signifies the official start of KT Collaboration, one of our most prominent open innovation programs. GCCEI will continue actively supporting seamless collaboration between the startups and KT, ensuring successful commercialization outcomes.”
Pangyo Techno Valley is a global integrated R&D hub focused on IT, BT, CT, and NT, integrating Research (R), People (P), Information (I), and Trade (T). As Gyeonggi-do’s representative innovation cluster, Pangyo Techno Valley was established to secure national new growth drivers such as technological innovation, human resource development, job creation, and enhancing international business competitiveness. As of 2023, 1,666 companies employ 78,751 people, and it has positioned itself as the most innovative hub in South Korea, with sales amounting to 167.7 trillion KRW (125.5 billion USD).
Furthermore, the Techno Valley Innovation Division of the Gyeonggi-do Business & Science Accelerator (GBSA) holds monthly events such as the Pangyo Evening Meet-Up, Pan-Pan Day, and the Pangyo Startup Investment Exchange “In-Best Pangyo” to maximize the value of Pangyo Techno Valley. They also support the Pangyo Overseas Promotion Program to publicize information about Pangyo’s companies, products, and services to domestic and foreign investors and the media, thereby facilitating foreign investment.
