Hyundai E&C will launch strategic collaborations with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and public institutions under the Seoul city government to spread a safety culture at construction sites.
Hyundai E&C said on the 14th that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three startup support institutions — the Seoul Business Agency, the Seoul Center for Creative Economy & Innovation, and the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) — to jointly discover construction safety innovation companies and support cooperation in operating an open innovation program.
About 20 officials from each institution attended the signing ceremony held on the 13th at Hyundai E&C headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, including Lim Byung-cheon, head of safety planning at Hyundai E&C; Kim Jong-woo, head of the startup division at the Seoul Business Agency; Kim Young-joon, head of the innovation business office at the Seoul Center for Creative Economy & Innovation; and Han Jae-gu, head of the Smart Construction Support Center at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT).
The agreement was prepared to prevent safety accidents at construction sites through cooperation among the government, local governments, and private construction companies; to preemptively introduce safety-related innovative technologies and services such as artificial intelligence (AI) CCTVs, construction robots, and safety education platforms; and to spread verified innovative technologies to construction sites.
Hyundai E&C, together with the three startup support institutions, will actively pursue joint efforts to ▲ discover and foster construction safety innovation corporations ▲ cooperate in operating open innovation programs ▲ provide cooperative support for customized support programs for discovered corporations.
In addition, together with the three institutions, it will host the "2026 H-Safe Open Innovation Challenge," the nation's first open innovation program on the theme of "construction safety." The recruitment fields are four in total: ▲ safety innovation technology ▲ safety equipment ▲ health and environment ▲ safety culture, and the application period runs from the 15th to the 8th of next month.
Not only startups but also small and midsize corporations that wish to collaborate with Hyundai E&C in the field of construction safety can participate. Corporations wishing to apply can do so through the Seoul Center for Creative Economy & Innovation website.
After document screening and in-person evaluations, the final selection of corporations is scheduled for around late March. Benefits for selected corporations include ▲ opportunities for technology verification (PoC, Proof of Concept) and business support funds ▲ scale-up support ▲ opportunities to participate in follow-up linkage support programs ▲ publicity/marketing support ▲ investment attraction ▲ networking & consulting.