The Korea SMEs and Startups Agency holds the "2026 Deep Tech Startup Academy Technology Exchange for Market Entry" at the Deep Tech Startup Academy in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, on Friday. [Korea SMEs and Startups Agency]
The Korea SMEs and Startups Agency holds the "2026 Deep Tech Startup Academy Technology Exchange for Market Entry" at the Deep Tech Startup Academy in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, on Friday. [Korea SMEs and Startups Agency]

Six firms from AI, telecom, cloud, education, IT infrastructure and semiconductor sectors take part

One-on-one PoC meetups open door to procurement, technology transfer and investment talks

The Korea SMEs and Startups Agency announced Monday that it held a technology exchange event for deep tech startups enrolled in its Deep Tech Startup Academy on Friday at the academy's campus in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.

The event focused on connecting deep tech startups with large and mid-sized companies so the startups could validate their technologies in real industrial settings. It was designed to create touchpoints that could lead from proof-of-concept trials to follow-on business cooperation, including procurement, technology transfer and investment.

This year's advanced track of the Deep Tech Startup Academy admitted 198 deep tech startups selected on the basis of their technological merit, business viability and growth potential. The companies are technology-intensive firms with proprietary core technologies and intellectual property, and a significant number have already entered the technology-validation stage ahead of industrial deployment.

Six large and mid-sized companies from the AI and telecommunications, cloud, education, IT infrastructure and semiconductor sectors participated in the exchange as prospective partner firms.

The agency matched enrolled startups with partner firms based on cooperation areas the firms had indicated in advance, then structured the program in three stages: on-site meetups followed by post-event consultation support. The aim was to ensure the exchange did not end as a one-off encounter but led to substantive follow-up discussions.

The event opened with an open-innovation seminar in which each company outlined its collaboration strategy and priorities, followed by four sessions of one-on-one proof-of-concept meetups. Enrolled startups visited each partner firm in turn, presenting their technologies and solutions and discussing how they could be applied in actual business environments.

Im Ji-hyeon, head of the agency's Youth Startup Academy, said the agency would continue to expand cooperation opportunities with large and mid-sized companies "so that the innovative technologies of deep tech startups can be validated in real industrial settings and translate into commercialization outcomes."

The agency supports enrolled startups in technology validation and market entry both domestically and abroad. It plans to run follow-on programs to help the collaboration projects discussed at the exchange move toward actual commercialization.


hong@heraldcorp.com