The 4th Innovation and Entrepreneurship Symposium (IES) was held on August 18~20, 2022, during the US-Korea Conference (UKC) 2022. The symposium aimed to provide a cooperative environment for current and future aspiring entrepreneurs in the US and Korea to network with high-profile entrepreneurs and investors, listen to the stories of those who have successfully exited their companies, and learn about the best practices of startups, from protecting your intellectual property and assets to securing funding from venture capitalists and government agencies. For budding entrepreneurs, the IES Committee hosted the Startup Pitch Competition (SPC), where aspiring startup founders came to pitch to potential investors about how their solution seeks to improve the synergy between the US and Korea. The Symposium invited entrepreneurial-minded American and Korean professionals to attend the IES and learn about growing cross-border business opportunities in the US and Korea today. About 60 people attended the IES sessions and SPC on average for the three days, with about 120 who attended the IES networking dinner and the SPC networking lunch.
The IES 2022 was comprised of four components: (1) Workshop, (2) Idea Pitch Competition and Startup Pitch Competition, (3) Startup Demo, and (4) Networking events. The IES Committee invited outstanding speakers from their networks and introductions to deliver inspiring and encouraging speeches to the attendees including startup founders and future founders.
Cofounder & CEO
Sendbird Inc.
The IES Workshop consisted of five sessions, (1) IES Opening Session, (2) Entrepreneurs in AI, ICT, and Entertainment, (3) Entrepreneurs in Biotech and Healthcare, (4) Fundraising and IPO Strategy, and (5) IES Sponsor Forum. In the IES Opening session, after Opening Remarks by IES Chair Dr. Kyeong Ho Yang, Mr. John S. Kim (photo), Cofounder & CEO of Sendbird Inc., gave the IES keynote speech entitled “Going Global: The 2nd Miracle on the Han River”, where he encouraged and provided useful frameworks and mindset that Korean entrepreneurs need to adopt to build global-first startups in the US.
IES 2022 Organizing Committee
General Director: Joanne Lee (Qral Group)
Public Relations Director: James Han (Harvard Medical School)
Local Arrangement Director: Nathan Byun (Honeywell Robotics)
Publication Director (website): Mingyu Jeon (eBay)
Workshop Committee:
Jeho Park, Deok-Ho Kim (Johns Hopkins University), James Han, Tae Heum Jeong
Startup Demo Committee:
IL Minn, Kevin Kim (Brave Turtles), Sunghwan Lee (SV Bio Ventures, LP)
Competition Committee:
Kyeong Ho Yang, Tae Heum Jeong, Jennifer Cho (Millibatt), Sol Eun (Uiflow), Nathan Byun, Sunghwan Lee (secretary) (SV Bio Ventures)
Advisor: Jun-Seok Oh (Western Michigan University)
IES Workshop Program
The IES Workshop Program consisted of 16 presentations by 16 speakers and 2 panelists. The program Overview is as below. Times are all in the US Eastern Time.
August 18, 2022 (Thursday)
– IES Opening Session (13:30 – 14:15)
– IES Session 1: Entrepreneurs in AI, ICT, and Entertainment (14:15 ~ 15:45)
– IES Session 2: Entrepreneurs in Biotech and Healthcare (16:00 ~ 18:00)
August 19, 2022 (Friday)
– IES Startup Demo Session (11:00 ~ 12:30)
– IES Session 3: Fundraising and IPO Strategy (13:30 ~ 15:30)
– Idea Pitch Competition (16:00 – 17:15)
– IES Sponsor Forum (17:15 – 18:00)
August 20, 2022 (Saturday)
– Startup Pitch Competition (08:30 – 10:30)
– SPC Networking Lunch (13:00 – 16:00)
IES Startup Pitch Competition
As a continued effort to promote and enrich the KSEA members’ entrepreneurship, KSEA hosted an Idea Pitch Competition (IPC) and a Startup Pitch Competition (SPC) on August 19 and 20, 2022, respectively, during the UKC 2022. Among the many applicants from the US and Korea in various fields, including biotech, AI applications, mobile apps, and online services, the panel of judges selected 10 finalists in each category (IPC and SPC). The finalists are shown in Table 1(a) and 1(b) for SPC and IPC, respectively.
| Order | Company Name | Representative | Country | Area of Business |
| 1 | Endominance, Inc. | Paul Lee | USA | Health services |
| 2 | EXoPERT | Yeonho Choi | Korea | Biomedical |
| 3 | GEOGRID Inc. | Ki-Hyun Kim | Korea | Information technology |
| 4 | Kinava | Chris Kangil Choe | Korea | Mechanical Engineering |
| 5 | MedGene Therapeutics | Yong H. “Henry” Park | USA | Biomedical |
| 6 | Neurive Co., Ltd. | Korea | Device | |
| 7 | oncoMASTER | Yeul Hong Kim | Korea | Health services |
| 8 | Quad Miners | Jay Kim | Korea | Other |
| 9 | RudaCure Co. Ltd. | Harith Hasrul | Korea | Biomedical |
| 10 | Welsmeditech co., Ltd. | Kyongwon HWANG | Korea | Health services |
| Order | Company Name | Representative | Country | Area of Business |
| 1 | HemaChrome | Young Kim | USA | Biomedical |
| 2 | Marinebiogroup in USA | YunYoung Heo | USA | Materials |
| 3 | Optosurgical, LLC | Yoseph Kim | USA | Biomedical |
| 4 | Solarinno Co., Ltd. | Pak, Hunkyun | Korea | Device |
| 5 | STEMDEN USA LLC | Il-Ho Jang | Korea | Biomedical |
| 6 | Blue Labs | MyoungJae Oh, Dabeen Kim | Korea (KIC) | |
| 7 | Color Bead Sensor | Huihyn Cho, Yunchul Kim | Korea (KIC) | |
| 8 | Crois | Jaehyeong Lee, Junseok Lee | Korea (KIC) | |
| 9 | Gait Balance | Si Woo Lee | Korea (KIC) | |
| 10 | Token | Hyo Eun Kim, Schuck Ariadna | Korea (KIC) |
SPC & IPC Judges:
– Tae Heum Jeong, Managing Partner, SV Bio Ventures, LP
– John Nahm, Managing Partner, Strong Ventures
– Mingu Lee, Managing Partner, Cleveland Avenue
– Spencer Nam, Managing Partner, KSV Global Innovations
– Yong Kim, Director, Korea Innovation Center DC
– Kyoung Rok (Archi) Kong, Managing Partner, K2G Tech Fund
– Deok Ho Kim, Johns Hopkins University
– John S. Kim, CEO & Cofounder, Sendbird
– Sol Eun, CEO & Cofounder, Uiflow
– JaeKwon Son, The Miilk, founder
In each category, the selected 10 finalists pitched to the panel of 7 judges and about 60 in-person attendees. While the finalists were allowed to pitch in Korean or English, most decided to pitch in English. The winners are as below:
IPC Winners:
First Prize Winner ($3,000)
– HemaChrome (Young Kim)
Second Prize Winners ($1,000)
– Marine Bio Group (YunYoung Heo)
Third Prize Winners (2, $500 each)
– Optosurgical, LLC (Yoseph Kim)
– Blue Labs (MyoungJae Oh, Dabeen Kim)
SPC Winners:
First Prize Winner ($10,000)
– Quad Miners (Jay Kim)
Second Prize Winners ($3,000, SBA Award)
– RudaCure Co. Ltd. (Harith Hasrul)
Third Prize Winners (2, $1,000 each)
– MedGene Therapeutics (Bluepoint Partners Award, Yong H. “Henry” Park)
– Neurive Co., Ltd. (Jae-jun Song)
The cash award for the second-prize winner of SPC was sponsored by Seoul Business Agency (SBA), and one third-prize winner of SPC by Bluepoint Partners in Korea. The award ceremony for the winners was held during the UKC Closing Session on the competition day. Figure 3 is a photo taken during the ceremony.
IES Startup Demo Program
The Startup Demo program was improved at the 4th IES. 21 finalists, and semi-finalists of SPC and IPC participated in the program and demonstrated their technologies, products, and/or services to the UKC attendees for two days, August 18 and 19. The Demo also provided a networking opportunity with visitors (VCs, technologists, scientists, marketers, etc.).
This year, the IES 2022 also invited promising startups from Korea and the US to the Startup Demo Program to allow them to showcase their products and/or services to the UKC attendants. This charged program ($2,000 per participant) drew interest from the startups that the committee members contacted while there were very limited seats available this time. Among them is Huniverse Global (CEO: Sang Heon Lee) in Korea, which develops the Cloud Precision Medicine Hospital Information System (PHIS) with support from the Korea University Medical Center.
The Committee provided all demo participants with a 1:1 mentoring tailored for their needs, investment, US market entrance, partnership, or technology.
IES and SPC Networking Events
The IES Committee prepared three networking events to provide the attendees and startup founders with opportunities to network with investors and potential partners in friendly atmosphere:
- IES Networking Dinner: This is the networking dinner prepared by UKC at 6:30 ~ 8:00 PM on Thursday, August 18, 2022, where about 120 IES attendees networked with other participants having dinner. The dinner was at the Rooftop (Chesapeake View) of the UKC hotel.
- IES Networking Chat: Immediately after the networking dinner, about 80 IES participants continued their networking over drinks for about three hours (8:00 ~ 11:00 PM) at the same place as the networking dinner. This networking event was sponsored partly by K-water.
- SPC Networking Lunch: Immediately following the UKC Closing Session was a networking lunch where the finalists and semifinalists enjoyed networking with the judges and seasoned technologists and scientists of KSEA. The event was held at the Rooftop (Chesapeake View) of the UKC hotel, and was co-sponsored by SV Bio Ventures, Strong Ventures, and Uiflow.
Epilog
Overall feedback after the event was very encouraging. We need to keep the momentum by making continuous improvements of all four components of IES, including the Startup Demo Program that was introduced last year. Sincere thanks to the generous sponsors that made the IES a success!
Reported by
Kyeong Ho Yang
President
KITEE (Korean-American Innovative Technology Engineers and Entrepreneurs)
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