KT announced on the 20th that it will conduct recruitment for the 'KT FutureWave Startup Acceleration Package' until the 13th of next month.
The KT FutureWave Startup Acceleration Package is a corporate scale-up program aimed at discovering promising startups in their 3rd to 7th year of founding, selecting project tasks for collaboration with KT, and targeting joint service and commercialization with technology validation (POC). This program is conducted by KT in collaboration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Startup Promotion Agency, and the Gyeonggi Creative Economy Innovation Center. Corporations wishing to participate can apply through the startup support portal 'K-Startup.'
The recruitment fields include artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud, media and content, ICT convergence services, and others, totaling four areas. Participating corporations must possess technologies, services, and content that can cooperate with KT. Selected startups will receive a maximum of 200 million won in commercialization funds per corporation, and will be matched with KT's dedicated business division (KT Group) for the promotion of new business initiatives, along with mentoring.
KT plans to support selected corporations with global expansion programs, including participation in overseas exhibitions, big tech conferences, and global awards, as well as opportunities for investment attraction from domestic and international venture capital (VC) firms and investment review opportunities through KT Investment, a corporate venture capital (CVC) subsidiary.
Meanwhile, selected corporations will be offered a space in the Pangyo Open Innovation Center operated by KT after a separate review process and will also have the opportunity for free transfer of patents held by KT. They will be registered in 'EcoOn,' a platform for communication and business collaboration with partners in new growth sectors managed by KT, continuously receiving various benefits such as KT business information and partnership opportunities.
Lee Won-jun, Executive Vice President of KT's Purchasing Division, noted, 'We plan to jointly develop differentiated AX innovative services in the AICT sector with startups in their growth phase and increase the likelihood of commercial success, creating a win-win model with startups.' He added, 'We will spare no effort in spreading the startup ecosystem through collaboration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Startup Promotion Agency, and the Gyeonggi Creative Economy Innovation Center.'