The Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone office of the Korea Research Institute of Science and Technology Promotion hosted "Open Innovation Daedeok" on Wednesday together with DB Insurance, Oracle, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Hana Bank, the office said.
The event was organized to match the technology needs of four domestic and international leading companies with deep tech firms in the R&D special zone, with the aim of identifying joint demonstration projects.
Ahead of the event, the Daedeok office publicly disclosed the technology requirements of each participating company and recruited applicants. After a written review covering technological fit, technical merit and commercialization potential, the office selected 11 special zone companies as final participants.
At the event, one-on-one meetings were held between the leading companies and the special zone firms. Participants discussed in detail the feasibility of on-site application, the scope of demonstration and the potential for commercialization partnerships, based on each firm's proprietary technology and business plans.
Key areas of collaboration include insurance consulting support, data integration and analysis, biotech and healthcare, and financial services innovation.
DB Insurance focused its review on generative AI-based consulting and training solutions designed to improve the productivity of insurance agents.
Oracle presented technology needs spanning three areas: business innovation and intelligent service enhancement using generative AI and agentic AI; a precision medicine and drug development platform built on medical AI and biotech data; and an operational optimization and circular economy platform leveraging energy and environmental data.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical explored collaboration possibilities centered on sweat-analysis-based health and performance management solutions — targeting heatstroke prevention for construction workers, heat illness prevention for the elderly and condition management for athletes.
Hana Bank reviewed technologies in three areas: a hyper-personalized asset management service reflecting real-time market conditions; an AI-based natural language query system for advanced business intelligence analysis; and an AI-driven platform for automated multimedia market commentary and real-time ETF evaluation.
The Daedeok office plans to support the drafting of regional innovation demonstration project proposals based on the collaboration agenda identified at the event. It will also link the outcomes to next year's regional innovation demonstration scale-up support program (R&BD) and the special zone support regime to facilitate follow-on commercialization.
Im Moon-taek, head of the Daedeok Special Zone office, said the event "confirmed the broad scalability of Daedeok's deep tech AI, from insurance to asset management." He added that the office would pursue a two-track strategy — matching deep-technology fields such as aerospace, semiconductors and advanced biotech through a "one-on-one customized" approach, as it has done with partners including Airbus and SK Ecoplant, while pairing highly applicable technologies through an "integrated" model — to flexibly expand special zone companies' access to industry markets.
nbgkoo@heraldcorp.com
