- SK Bioscience to promise global cooperation with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on COVID-19 vaccines
SK Bioscience announced on the 17th that it has discussed ways to strengthen partnerships with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Covid-19 vaccines including SKY Covione.
CEO Mark Sussman, president of the foundation's Global Health Program Trevor Mundel, Vice Chairman/Co-CEO of SK Discovery Co Ltd Chey Chang-Won, and CEO of SK Bioscience Ahn Jae-yong (right) attended the discussion conducted by the Gates Foundation in Seattle.
At the same day, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and SK Bioscience decided to further strengthen their partnership and successfully complete the ongoing vaccine development. Previously, with the support of the foundation, SK Bioscience successfully developed a COVID-19 vaccine.
SK Bioscience said, "We plan to continue to expand cooperation to perform the tasks necessary for global health and respond to various diseases and infectious diseases in the future."
- ”Autonomous cooperative driving bus” to be test-run in Pangyo next month and be actually run from September
Gyeonggi-do announced on the 17th that the autonomous cooperative driving bus that it has been pushing for its introduction, has passed a screening for temporary driving permit after going through a driving test at the Korean Automobile Testing and Research Institute's K-city self-driving car test site (Hwaseong) on the 9th.
Accordingly, if the autonomous cooperative driving bus of Gyeonggi-do obtains a temporary driver's license for autonomous driving from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport at the end of this month, a test run will begin in June. During the test run, only the manager will be on board to inspect safety.
Based on the results of the test run, Gyeonggi-do plans to pick up passengers on the road in Pangyo Techno Valley in Seongnam City as early as September and operate them for the first time in South Korea along with conventional vehicles.
Autonomous cooperative driving buses are different from autonomous vehicles in that they receive traffic information such as signal information, pedestrian status at crosswalks, and traffic conditions from the control center.
Gyeonggi-do's autonomous cooperative driving bus is a customized version of commercial low-floor electric bus manufactured by Edison Motors.
It is the same size as a regular bus (10.99m long, 2.49m wide, and 3.39m high), but has a small number of passengers (20 seats).
It is equipped with autonomous driving systems such as Radar and LiDAR, and information on transportation infrastructure is provided by Gyeonggi-do Autonomous Driving Center (Pangyo).
A round-trip bus runs between Pangyo 1st Techno Valley and 2nd Techno Valley which is a 7km long distance in compliance with the legal speed (0-50km/h). Nevertheless with the driver on board, normally does the bus automatically adjust the speed and steers the steering wheel according to the traffic without driver intervention.
When an object appears in front of you, the sensor recognizes the object and stops the bus. For safety, the automatic operation system will stop running if the driver intervenes by operating the accelerator pedal or brake pedal.
The provincial government will decide on the fare and the number of operations after the test-run.
- Naver to make new investments in an NFT content startup, “Mode House”
Naver's startup training organization D2SF announced on the 19th that it has made a new investment in non-fungible token (NFT) and blockchain content startup Mode House.
FuturePlay and Timewise Investment participated as joint investors in Mode House's pre-series A round. Pre-Series A is an investment made in the stage of formulating hypotheses on business items and verifying them.
Mode House is developing an entertainment platform in which fans can participate using NFT and blockchain technology. Unlike the past, when artists were introduced through the agency's own production, the entire process of artist production, from trainee selection to concept and planning, will be carried out with the participation of fans.
Currently, Mode House is preparing for a girl group “Triple S” as its first project. Starting with the first member's disclosure on the 1st, the content was introduced one after another. It is currently continuing active communication with the fan community.
Modhouse said, "In the future, we're going to specify our debut unit and album concept on the platform with our fans."
Yang Sang-hwan, leader of Naver D2SF, said, "On the metaverse platform, content that can lead to active participation of the fan community is important, which is based on NFT and blockchain technology."
He added, "We expect that there will be great synergy effects also along with Naver's various content platforms in the future."
Meanwhile, Naver D2SF has steadily invested in technologies and platforms that help users directly participate in content production. Naver D2SF is openly recruiting new investment teams through its website.
- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to hold open recruitment of startups for “Drone Company Support Hub” in Pangyo
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology announced that they will openly recruit budding companies specialized in drones that are eager to move into the Drone Company Support Hub in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, from the 16th.
Drone Company Support Hub refers to a place that provides space for start-ups that have excellent technologies or ideas related to drones to move in at low rent. Companies that have moved in can receive support from the use of public testing equipment, prototyping, and patent application costs.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport provides 2.8 billion won annually to tenant companies, including 140 cases of prototyping, 51 cases of corporate consulting, 63 intellectual property applications, 72 cases of participation in the fair, and 118 cases of investment attraction support.
The application for competition ends the 14th of next month. Companies can apply by distinguishing about 10 independent spaces from about four open spaces.
Prospective entrepreneurs or fledging companies within seven years of establishment will be eligible for the public offering, and companies selected after evaluation will move in on August 1st.
More details can be found on the website of Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology and Drone Information Portal.
Kim Heon-jung, Director General for Aviation Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "We hope that fledging companies will grow into a unicorn company from a global promising drone company," and added, "We plan to continue to identify necessary support measures going forward to foster the drone industry as a future high-tech industry."
Source: Pangyo Techno Valley Official Newsroom
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