Awards Ceremony

 

The Korean government has been nurturing ventures and startups through the Venture Startup Festival, aiming to spark the entrepreneurial spirit and boost the morale of small and medium sized businesses. The Korean government will give out awards in three categories – awards for contribution to vitalizing the venture spirit, those for startup spirit, and ones for knowledge-based services. The venture spirit vitalizing awards are given in three categories: venture entrepreneurs, venture entrepreneurs with over 100 billion won (US$94 million) in revenue, and employees of venture support organizations. The startup spirit vitalizing awards are offered to two categories: startup entrepreneurs and startup support organizations or individuals. The knowledge-based service vitalizing awards are given to two categories: oneperson creative entrepreneurs and support organizations or their employees.

Profiles of Venture Startup Festival Prize Winners

Lee Jae-won, CEO, Suprema Co., Ltd (www.suprema.co.kr)​​

CATEGORY: Venture Entrepreneur
AWARD: Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit

  • World’s finest biometric recognition technology
  • Export and overseas business activities
  • Global sales network with over 1,000 partners in more than 110 countries around the world
  • Supply of live fingerprint scanners and other products to the United States Census Bureau and for electronic ID projects in Nigeria, India, and Iran, and e-voting projects of the Philippines, Ghana, and Brazil
  • Overseas sales accounting for 73% of the company’s total as of 2012
  • Promotion of the awareness and growth of the Korean biometric recognition industry abroad
  • First place at the Fingerprint Verification Competition (FVC) in 2004, 2006, and 2010
  • Consistent R&D efforts for the penetration of public-sector markets worldwide
  • Fingerprint verification algorithm : World best for two consecutive years at the FVC
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States : Top in the algorithm compatibility performance evaluation category
  • Live fingerprint verification scanner : obtained the highest-grade international certification from the FBI for the first time in Asia
  • Electronic passport reader : obtained ARINC certification for the first time in the world
  • Sales and employment as of 2012 : 51.9 billion won (US$49.0 million) and 80 employees
Chung Young Bae, CEO, ISC Co., Ltd. (www.isc21.kr)

CATEGORY: Venture Entrepreneur
AWARD: ​​Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit

  • Contribution to the domestic development of test sockets for semiconductor post-processing
  • Developed the world’s second silicone rubber type test socket and started the first instance of mass production in 2003
  • Number one globally in sales in the silicone rubber-based semiconductor test socket market and number three in sales in the overall semiconductor test socket market
  • Growth momentum based on consistent R&D investment
  • Annual growth rate of over 30% for the last three years by investing more than 5% of the total sales in R&D since 2010
  • Number of employees increased by more than 20% each year
  • Dedicated efforts for the recruiting and training of human resources
  • Academic-industry cooperation agreements with seven academic institutions since 2008 for joint technological development and job placement
  • Continuous mutual cooperation with the labor management council since 2006
  • Selected as one of the World Class 300 Enterprises (May 2013)
  • Sales and employment as of 2012: 51.6 billion won (US$48.8 million) and 238 employees
Park Yoon-min, CEO, Displaytech Co., Ltd. (www.displaytech.co.kr)

CATEGORY: Venture Entrepreneur
AWARD: Iron Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit

  • Number one in the local mobile phone LCD module market
  • Concentration on the production of LCD modules without panel lines to retain the top spot among mid-sized companies in the LCD module market
  • Annual sales estimated at 400 billion won (US$377 million) for 15 years since its inception as a venture firm
  • Commitment to product development, productivity enhancement, and cost reduction that resulted in a 40-fold increase in sales to approximately 400 billion won (US$377 million) between the establishment and 2013
  • Penetration of the next-generation display market through consistent R&D efforts
  • Expected to manufacture 50 million units of smart phone display panels and 18 million units of tablet PC display panels a year
  • Expected to manufacture 80 million units of AM OLED panels
  • Owns window touch sensor and touch-related technologies
  • Owns 3D display-related patents and technologies
  • Sales and employment as of 2012: 293.6 billion won (US$277.5 million) and 227 employees
Chang Kyeong-ho, CEO, Innox Co., Ltd. (www.innoxcorp.com)

CATEGORY: Venture Entrepreneur
AWARD: Presidential Citation

  • The first company in Korea that succeeded in the domestic development of semiconductor packaging materials
  • Plays a key role in developing and manufacturing semiconductor package materials such as LOC tape, LLE, and WBL
  • Only company in Korea that runs a full lineup to mass-produce semiconductor packaging materials
  • Contribution to Korea becoming a semiconductor and IT materials manufacturing industry powerhouse
  • Succeeded in the domestic development of FPCB materials for the first time in Korea
  • Global number one in the FPCB industry as of 2013
  • Contribution to the penetration of overseas export markets
  • Exports various products to IT powerhouses around the world such as the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and China, which were dominated by Japan in the past
  • Exports amounted to US$50 million as of FY 2012 with the exports-to-sales ratio reaching 41%
  • Sales and employment as of 2012 : 142.3 billion won (US$134.5 million) and 322 employees
Kim Jung Soo, CEO, Darin Co., Ltd. (www.darin.co.kr)

CATEGORY: Venture Entrepreneur
AWARD: Prime Minister’s Citation

  • Korea’s first domestic manufacturer of household atomizer
  • IP-certified star company and biggest holder of Kyungnam Province’s Industrial Assets Rights according to Guinness Book of World Records
  • Owner of 13 registered patents, 7 pending patents, 3 trademarks, 3 foreign patents, and other intellectual property including 26 utility model marks and 26 registered design marks
  • Recognized as a leading technology export company, with a 33% increase in sales in 2012 and annual growth of 17%
  • Recognized as a socially sensitive company in 2013 with 9% of employees disabled persons
Lee Kwang-sik, CEO, Renosem Co., Ltd. (www.renosem.com)

CATEGORY: Startup
AWARD: Presidential Citation

  • First domestic company to manufacture plasma sterilization products
  • Korea’s top market share company in plasma sterilization products
  • Korea’s top import-substitution business in plasma sterilization
  • Export-driven business since the company’s foundation, with sales to 40 countries worldwide and growing
  • Path-breaking technology developer and leader in plasma industry, a market primarily dominated by imports
Kim Young-kyu, CEO, Jinyuoung HnS Inc.

CATEGORY: Startup
AWARD: Presidential Citation

  • Leading IT company since 2009, specializing in development of highly sophisticated cell phone parts
  • Exporter of cell phone parts and accessories, responsible for spurring overseas sales in cell phones and parts
  • Changwon College’s technology partner and certified employer
Jung Sung Eun, CEO, Weaversmind (www.weaversmind.com)

CATEGORY: Youth Entrepreneur
AWARD: Presidential Citation

  • Developer of educational content, specializing in content geared for untapped education market.
  • Developer of and owner of patent BrainCarving, a storytelling education tool, registered in Korea and pending in the US
  • Recognized incubator and mentor of venturing businesses
  • Active member of Korea Business Angels Association
An Jae hee, CEO, Jey-corp (www.jeycorp.com)

CATEGORY: Knowledge-based Entrepreneur
AWARD: Presidential Citation

  • Company with registered download count of 3 million on Android and IOS App market
  • Company that registered most downloaded content, twice, in App Store’s free content category
  • Small and Medium Business Administration’s recognized company in 2013, in the category of Creative Company, and Korea App Society Daegu City Charter Member
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