The 2022 X-IST Startups Competition ended successfully on October 28, 2022.
Sponsored by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), this is an annual joint startup competitions among promising startups from the major institutes of science and technology (UNIST, KAIST, DGIST, and GIST). The competition took place in Hotel Hyundai by Lahan Ulsan from October 27 to 28, 2022. The closing ceremony followed immediately after the award ceremony on the last competition day.
The Grand Prize of the first competition went to Team ‘UNITECH 3DP‘ of KAIST and the second prize to Team ‘TMB‘ of UNIST. Team ‘Lmntic Biotech Co., Ltd.‘ of DGIST and Team ‘Bookend‘ of KAIST were also given awards for participation at the ceremony.
Team ‘UNITECH 3DP‘ of KAIST was awarded with the Minister of Science and ICT Award and a cash prize of 5 million KRW for presenting a novel, low-cost 3D metal printing technology that uses primary and secondary heat sources.
Team ‘TMB‘ of UNIST, which won the Excellence Award, was recognized for presenting a new blood purification filter designed to increase survival rates for patients with severe sepsis and prevent multiple organ failure.The top two teams will be given Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) Priority Investment worth 100 million KRW from MIRAE Holdings Ltd., as well as the opportunity to partake in the TIPS (Accelerator Investment-Driven Tech Incubator Program for Startup) program.
Team ‘Lmntic Biotech Co., Ltd.‘ of DGIST and Team ‘Bookend‘ of KAIST, respectively, have been awarded with the participation prize for introducing a next-generation life research and diagnosis platform using micro-magnet pattern chips, and for presenting D2C book publishing platform, which uses a cloud-based book editor technology.
Congratulatory remarks by Dean Soon Yong Kwon from the Office of University Industry Relations at the 2022 X-IST Startups Competition. l Image Credit: Business Incubation Center
The participating student startups from each university also had the opportunity to take part in various IR related activities for current and potential investors though the ‘One-on-One Investment Networking Day‘ program. The event gathered some of the nation’s leading startup accelerator firms and early-stage venture capital investors, including Kakao Ventures, Bluepoint Partners, Fast Ventures, and IPS Ventures.
Meanwhile, the competition, which celebrates its ninth anniversary this year, aims at rejuvenating the lab-based startup culture and promoting cooperation in innovation ecosystems in order to strength the solidarity of startups and propel competition.
