This post was translated by Sangil Park from Wonki Lim’s original post on VentureSquare. Wonki visits and carries out in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs and startup CEOS around Korea.
He is called the “incomplete astronaut”. But this post is not about the story of a man who tried to become an astronaut – but a different story about the same person who still dreams of entering space one day.
It was last summer when I first attended his lecture. It was then when he told us about both his past and his life now, calmly but passionately. In the last part of his lecture, he said “My dream of being an astronaut and getting on a Russian spaceship has been left incomplete, but my journey to launching a spaceship isn’t finished yet. The era of private spaceships is near. I haven’t been on a spaceship before, but my dream continues.”
One year has passed since he said this. The reason why I was reminded of his words was not only because it was the most impressive part of his lecture, but also because he has been living out his dream since then. Maybe he had been living it out even before giving his lecture.
In any case, I had several reasons for visiting him again. Tide Institute is still located in the Sae-un shopping district building. I had been curious as to why he had placed his office there, but after visiting CEO San Ko I found out why.
Tide Institute is an incorporated, non-profit organization which helps in the creation of ventures. The core part of Tide Institute to help in creating businesses is Tide Workshop. Ko began the workshop to help entrepreneurs in the manufacturing field get over the hurdle of manufacturing prototypes.
The slogan of Tide Workshop is “We have methods to manufacture almost anything you want to make.”. Ko thought it was better to provide places to entrepreneurs, rather than only offering methods and so he established Fab Lab – an open manufacturing space. The original idea was taken from MIT’s Fab Lab, and Ko’s version is the first private facility of its type in Korea.
On the fifteenth floor of the Sae-un building, the office of the institute is also a Fab Lab. I could see 3D printers, laser cutters and other manufacturing machines. The location of the office is also great for buying components and thus time and risk are reduced. He explained the functions of each machine and told me that even though the complexity of goods the machines can produce are currently limited, it is expected to be better in the future.
No preparation will result in no progress, so TIDE is gearing up to spread knowledge and know-how about manufacturing to others through the workshop. This may bring forward the possibility of recreating the example of US company Local Motors in Korea.
Local Motors is not just a typical car company which simply produces vehicles and sells them. With Local Motors, consumers join the process in designing and planning new cars, and in the final step, they can go to Local Motors’ micro plant and assemble their own cars. Rally Fighter is the first result of their collaboration. Until not long ago, designing your own car and directly assembling it yourself was something that many just imagined. However, the network enabled sharing of car manufacturing knowledge and experience. Components were modularized, and places and equipment for production opened to the public. Due to these factors, consumers are becoming prosumers in the manufacturing industry too. Of course those who take part in the production process at Local Motors’ would already have a fair amount of knowledge and experience. Nevertheless, it may gradually reduce the entry barriers for others.
Ko’s main reason for doing this type of work isn’t to make new products from those who take part in DIY projects. He is more focused on entrepreneurship, though he does have an interest in tech-development and manufacturing. He established Tide Academy, which helps people who are qualified in technology and manufacturing, but lack the skills and experience. “The original model of this academy was “Singularity University”. Through it, people learn by themselves how to create inventive and leading ventures.” He added.
The education program at Tide Academy has eight “tracks” in science and technology, with five tools for managing startups such as design and accounting. After three weeks of trend learning and another three weeks of prototype manufacturing education, participants are given the chance to be mentored for two weeks and tour leading companies.
That’s not all. Ko also launched two programs, Startup Springboard and Tide Insight, in which domestic and international entrepreneurs, VCs, government officials, journalists and others from various levels of society can create networks together. Startup Springboard was started in July 2011 to form a network between domestic entrepreneurs, Korean entrepreneurs abroad and people working in related fields. When he launched the program, Ko considered the fact that entrepreneurs need real and consistent networks rather than having single sessions which were found to be common in competitions and government-backed programs. “You know Startup Weekend, right? Springboard can be called an international version of it. I want to give Korean entrepreneurs here opportunities to enter the global market and expand their ventures based on the network of international Korean entrepreneurs through the program.” He explained.
Tide Insight is a domestic program for in-depth networking with those from the community. The purpose of it is to share ideas, listen to presentations from experts, and exchange useful information. A limited number of attendees allows for more information to be shared and closer relationships to be formed while networking.
Ultimately all of this is to pursue entrepreneurship in the manufacturing industry as well as the expansion of domestic manufacturing. We can also see that Tide Institute is not the kind of business model which benefits from the process of selecting a good startup to simply help them found a company and reap the benefits of investment. Ko says that those type of things belong to incubators, whereas Tide Institute wants to be a platform of revolution and challenge with numerous ‘makers’. (“makers”, from Chris Anderson’s latest book ‘Makers’, are those who create demands and start a revolution in manufacturing.) It seemed to me that Ko wanted to create this platform and then use it to challenge himself as well.
He is also trying his hand at entrepreneurship and there is no doubt his venture will have strong links to the platform he has made. I will leave my story about Ko here and talk about his upcoming venture in another future post.
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