Hyundai Home Shopping will expand collaboration with startups to strengthen its open innovation strategy.
Hyundai Home Shopping said on the 23rd that it is recruiting the second cohort for the H.I.G.H (Hyundai Innovation Growth Hub) program, which discovers and supports promising startups.
The H.I.G.H program is operated in collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the startup agency Seoul Business Agency, and the data-driven accelerator Mark&Company, and proceeds in connection with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED)'s "public-private cooperation open innovation support project."
On the first cohort last year, five startups were selected across five areas, including personalized marketing and senior business. Hyundai Home Shopping has been pursuing joint projects with them, such as advancing target marketing, AI-based customer service, and VIP offline experience classes.
Recruitment areas for this second cohort are: ▲ enhancing mobile customer experience ▲ improving work efficiency based on AI tech ▲ differentiated products and innovative materials/technology ▲ implementing smart offline platforms. The application period runs until the 22nd of next month.
Selected startups will undergo proof of concept (PoC) for each project over three to four months, and 10 million won in support funds will be provided per corporations. They will also be offered opportunities such as domain-specific mentoring by the Seoul Business Agency and Mark&Company, and IR pitching at startup events.
In particular, for one corporations that is also selected as a final company for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED)'s "public-private cooperation open innovation support project," up to 140 million won in support funds is expected to be provided.
Hyundai Home Shopping plans to support market expansion and business feasibility verification by leveraging various platforms, including TV and mobile live commerce as well as the offline beauty select shop "COASIS," and to review follow-up business partnerships.
A Hyundai Home Shopping official said, "We will spare no effort in providing diverse support to the second-cohort startups, including PoC verification, mentoring, and business partnerships," adding, "We will continue to expand open innovation by actively collaborating with external partners to discover innovative business models and growth engines."