Seoul Bio Hub, a bio and medical startup support platform established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and jointly operated by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology and Korea University, is launching the 'Open Innovation 3rd Program' with Celltrion, a leading domestic bio company. Recruitment for participating companies will be held from May 26 to June 30 at 2:00 PM through the Seoul Bio Hub official website.
This program targets bio-medical startups within 8 years of establishment that can collaborate with Celltrion’s technology needs. The technology fields eligible for support include antibodies, small molecules, peptides, microbiomes, cell/gene therapy, drug delivery platforms, and new drug development platforms. The selected companies will receive support for an open innovation fostering program for approximately one year, and then a final evaluation will be held to determine whether to engage in actual collaboration with Celltrion, such as joint research or investment.
Seoul BioHub and Celltrion have operated the 1st (2023) and 2nd (2024) programs to discover and support a total of 6 promising startups. In particular, the 1st company, Enterobiome, became the first Korean company to win the Kansai Life Science Accelerator Program (KLSAP) in Japan, laying the foundation for global expansion. Among the 2nd companies, Biome secured a growth foundation by signing an equity investment contract with Celltrion for joint development of microbiome-based new drugs.
In this third round, we plan to select up to four startups.
The open innovation program is noteworthy in that it is a practical collaboration platform that directly connects Celltrion's new business and R&D capabilities with startups.
Celltrion supports corporate growth through a customized nurturing package in the form of a 'golden ticket' that includes not only corporate selection but also technical and commercialization expert advice, investor and global bio cluster networking opportunities. Seoul Bio Hub provides support for all aspects of commercialization, including space for startups, research facilities and equipment, customized acceleration, and global expansion consulting. In particular, in order to strengthen corporate business capabilities, it plans to focus on providing customized consulting to each company's characteristics in cooperation with specialized bio-industry accelerators.
Kim Hyun-woo, head of Seoul Bio Hub, said, “This third program will be an innovative case that simultaneously aims for the global growth of promising domestic startups and the acquisition of future technologies for Celltrion,” adding, “We look forward to the participation of many startups with creative ideas in the bio and medical fields.”
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