Bluepoint and CNT Tech Host 2nd NEST Forum on Public Tech

Deep-tech accelerator Bluepoint Partners and CNT Tech held the second NEST Innovation Forum on the 29th at Dream-in in Yeoksam, Seoul. The event aimed to connect research results from universities and government-funded institutes with the open innovation (OI) needs of large and mid-sized companies.

Around 70 people attended, including corporate OI managers, investors and executives of startups built on public technology. The forum centers on the NEST (Network for Expansion in Science & Technology Transfer) consortium, which brings together 13 public and private bodies such as technology holding companies and accelerators.

Keynote: technology optimism

Bluepoint CEO Lee Yong-kwan opened with the theme of "technology optimism". Despite concerns over rapid AI progress, he said, technology is ultimately the key to humanity's hardest problems, citing the US "Genesis Mission" and the Accelerating Science Project (ASAP). He said Bluepoint will use a program run by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Technology Commercialization Promotion Agency (COMPA) to cultivate comprehensive commercialization companies, shifting public technology commercialization from a research focus to a market focus and supporting the full cycle.

In the "Studio b Real Talk" session, corporate new-business teams shared OI strategies. Yang Seung-jin of LG Science Park and Lee Jung-won of InBody presented their "Super Start" and "InBody Like" programs, which turn internal needs into external collaboration projects. CJ's Kim Da-in discussed criteria for deciding whether in-house ventures continue, and SK Ecoplant's Lee Jun-ho outlined how standard OI differs from company building. Three startups, Pitch AI, Enforus and Xup, presented cases of technology validation and investment won through work with large companies.

Government backing and follow-up

Choi Moon-ki, director for research performance innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said that commercializing public research and scaling startups requires combining the execution power and networks of private specialists. He asked the NEST consortium to serve as a hub for industry-academia-research-government cooperation.

After the formal sessions, OI staff from large and mid-sized firms, startups and venture capital firms held one-on-one networking. Participants discussed possible proofs of concept (PoC), testbed trials, links to in-house business units and strategic investment.