POSCO Group introduces the outcome of the venture platform based on a KRW 1 trillion fund to secure future growth engines and foster youth employment
Five companies including Graphene Square among 19 venture companies receive CES Best of Innovation Award and Innovation Awards
About 180 students attending POSTECH went to CES… POSTECH provides an opportunity to acquire the latest technology and incorporate it into the major and fully supports all costs
POSCO Group participated in CES 2023, the world’s largest IT and electronics convergence fair, this year following last year.
CES 2023 is held from January 5 to 8, and at the event, POSCO Group introduced the POSCO Venture Platform, which finds and invests in future new growth businesses and 19 venture companies that are growing now after being found by the platform in collaboration with POSTECH.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world’s largest digital state-of-the-art technology fair, and about 2,200 companies are participating this year. The number of visitors is expected to almost double compared to last year as the space for exhibitors grows by more than 50% and reaches 186,000 square meters.
POSCO Group is participating for the second time following last year and doubled the exhibition space compared to last year. Nineteen companies found, fostered, and invested in by the POSCO Venture Platform will run their own booths and hold company briefing sessions. The Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST), a research institute under POSCO Group that specializes in practical applications, will also exhibit and present metal microstructure analysis AI technology and a facility/structure soundness assessment solution.
“POSCO Group has established a healthy venture ecosystem by operating its own venture platform based on a KRW 1 trillion fund since 2019 to secure future growth engines, foster youth employment, and revitalize the regional economy. The excellent venture companies POSCO Group fosters will have more business opportunities by being exposed to various global cooperative partners through CES,” said Park Seong-jin, who is in charge of industry-academia-research cooperation at POSCO Holdings.
Among the 19 venture companies participating in the POSCO Group exhibition hall, Graphene Square was named the Best of Innovation Award honoree, and ONESOFTDIGM, AI FOR PET, HME Square, and Lutra won innovation award. A total of 34 small and medium Korean venture companies received awards in CES this year, among which five are venture companies participating in the POSCO Group exhibition hall, which is very meaningful as only 17 of the 2,200 participating companies from around the world received the Best of Innovation Award.
In particular, Graphene Square, the Best of Innovation Award winner, is one of the companies that entered CHANGeUP GROUND, a start-up support center in Pohang, and was well received for developing the Graphene Kitchen Styler, a new concept transparent cooking appliance. The company was recognized for its technology by also being listed in “The Best Innovations of 2022,” chosen by Time magazine in November last year. Graphene Square, a representative industry-academia-research cooperation company on the POSCO Venture Platform, moved its headquarters to Pohang from the metropolitan area in 2021, built a pilot plant in the National Institute for Nanomaterials Technology of POSTECH, and developed a process to reduce wastewater generated when graphene is synthesized.
Also, regardless of its common hall, POSCO Group will find innovative technologies and companies related to green steel material, secondary battery material, hydrogen/low-carbon energy, and AI-based smart factory, which are associated with the green materials and energy business, the future core business, at CES with the participation of its executives.
Meanwhile, about 180 students attending POSTECH participated in CES 2023. POSTECH provided a special opportunity to all the students that entered in 2020, who could not experience global trends in person due to COVID-19, to participate in CES 2023. Flights, accommodations, cost of stay, etc., were supported fully by POSTECH.
POSTECH expects the students to learn about the latest global technology trends by exploring CES and have an opportunity to see how what they have studied is implemented as technology and think about what field they will go into by incorporating those technologies into their major.
▲ Panoramic view of CES 2022 POSCO Group Exhibition Hall
▲ Employees of Graphene Square, a venture company POSCO Group fostered, are explaining their company’s products to visitors in the CES 2022, which was held in January last year.