Picnic Connect (CEO Choi Kyung-hee) announced on the 8th that it has started recruiting teams for the '2025 SWITCH' program, which discovers and fosters startups with climate crisis response technology in cooperation with the Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province and Jeonbuk Technopark.
'SWITCH' is an acceleration-based competition that uses Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province as a test bed for the climate tech industry and links commercialization based on verification with follow-up investment. The program is recruiting participating teams divided into 'New Startup (Ground Stage)' and 'Growth Startup (Growth Stage)' tracks, and applications for participation can be submitted online through the official '2025 SWITCH' website (www.switchjb.net) until August 10.
The Growth Stage track recruits startups that can be verified through a technology proof-of-concept (PoC) with Seongil Hi-Tech, a waste battery recycling company located in Jeonbuk Province. The recruitment areas are ▲Activated carbon recycling ▲Battery discharge hardware ▲Materials/purification/adsorption/separation ▲Process water resource utilization ▲Air pollution reduction technology, etc. The selected companies will be supported with a total of 135 million won in PoC costs and a total of 15 million won in Demo Day prize money.
The Ground Stage track targets early-stage climate tech startups that have been incorporated for less than 7 years, and selects companies that are in the technology verification or development stage. The selected teams will receive customized acceleration with Sopung Connect’s dedicated mentors, and will also be provided with matching experts in various fields such as legal advice, intellectual property (IP), public relations (PR), and human resources (HR). At the end of the year, a total of 20 million won in prize money and follow-up investment opportunities will be provided through an open demo day.
“Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province is a region with an environment that can simultaneously realize the verification and commercialization of climate tech technology,” said Kyung-hee Choi, CEO of Picnic Connect. “The SWITCH program is a climate tech scale-up platform that goes beyond a simple startup competition and encompasses verification, investment, and growth.”
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