The Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy and Innovation (CEO Won-kyung Kim, hereinafter referred to as the Gyeonggi Innovation Center) announced on the 5th that it held a performance sharing meeting for the joint open innovation program '2025 Unicorn Bridge with ITCEN' with the ITCEN Group (Chairman Jin-mo Kang).
This open innovation program accelerates startup growth and links investment and technology commercialization through strategic collaboration with the ITcen Group. It operated as a two-track program, with strategic investment and technology validation initiatives. Strategic investment companies received a total of KRW 200 million in upfront funding, while technology validation companies received KRW 70 million in grants to conduct proof-of-concept (PoC) projects. Simultaneously, the Gyeonggi Innovation Center provided accelerator programs, including in-depth networking and investor relations (IR) capacity building.
From the 305 companies that applied over approximately two months starting in April, a four-month evaluation process resulted in the selection of two strategic investment companies (Hamada Labs and Banya AI) and five technology verification companies (Banya AI, Quantity, Scriptus, Public AI, and Banbee). Banya AI was selected for both Tracks.
At the performance sharing session, six selected startups presented. The strategic investment-focused companies shared their business ideas, post-investment business plans, and their impressions of attracting investment. The technology verification-focused companies, along with representatives from ITcen affiliates participating in the PoC, explained their progress and future collaboration plans.
The Gyeonggi Innovation Center announced the open innovation promotion process and the results of its acceleration program, while ITcen shared the program's objectives and achievements, as well as the TIPS recommendations and selection results, emphasizing the value of coexistence with startups.
An official from the Gyeonggi Innovation Center stated, “This 2Track program is the first open innovation case operated by the center to be planned and operated simultaneously,” and added, “We will continue to support the discovery of innovative startups and their joint growth with ITcen.”
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