Continental Korea and the Seoul Business Agency signed an Open Innovation MOU to support the discovery and mutual growth of outstanding startups.
Continental’s global startup organization, Co-pace, will also be a part of the MOU. The Seoul Business Agency that hosts the Seoul Open Innovation Alliance, is the city of Seoul’s leading startup support agency, and creates an open environment for multinational companies and startups to work closely together to create profit for everyone.
Continental is a global technology company that develops technology and services that lead the mobility trend. Establishing a separate independent organization in the global startup company, Co-pace, in 2017, it has played an active role in the global startup ecosystem and adopted new technology and business models in an effort to create value for startups and corporations alike. Co-pace, which has deeply analyzed over 200 startups from around the world, contributes to the future business of Continental through the open innovation network, and pushes for collaboration with deep tech startups which can create partnership opportunities with the startup ecosystem.
The MOU signing ceremony took place at ‘Try Everything 2022’, the global startup festival held in Dongdaemun Design Plaza, with key officials in attendance.
Through the MOU, Continental and Co-pace will work together with the Seoul Business Agency to operate the ‘Continental x Seoul Startup Open Innovation’ program to support the discovery and mutual growth of promising startups in mobility related fields such as, ▲autonomous driving ▲smart mobility ▲vehicle safety ▲driver and passengers ▲UX ▲fluid system and solution. Through this, Continental will support the global open innovation of the startup ecosystem through the establishment of partnerships between startups and a collaboration network.
Continental, Co-pace, and the Seoul Business Agency has recruited companies for the selection of startup companies until this past September 5th, and has selected 5 companies in mobility related fields, including autonomous driving, smart mobility, and vehicle safety, through 1 & 2 rounds of document screening. The selected companies had an IT pitching time after the MOU signing ceremony, and the companies that get ultimately selected to the program is scheduled to get investment attraction and technical cooperation POC (Proof of Concept: realizing an idea and proving its validity before adopting new technology in a market through verification/ validation) after an IR meetup screening process. In addition, they will receive various tailored follow-up support such as ▲a regular/collaborative space in the ‘Open Innovation Cooperation Zone’ in the Seoul Startup Hub ▲commercialization support funds.
Martin Kueppers, CEO of Continental Korea, said, “Through the Seoul Open Innovation Alliance, we will work closely with Korean startups that have outstanding and innovative technology, based on the technology and know-how that Continental has accrued from the global market, and contribute to the improvement in competitiveness of startups and growth of the Korean mobility market.”
This year's 2022 TRY EVERYTHING special articles were jointly planned and conducted by AVING NEWS and the Seoul Business Agency (sba), which contributes to the revitalization of the Seoul economy through comprehensive and systematic nurturing of small and medium-sized enterprises in Seoul.