Technopark(TP) system in South Korea functions as a networking hub for bolstering up local industries ─ especially small and medium-sized but highly-potential enterprises ─, by activating cooperation among the nurturing enterprises, the central government, and other regional innovative institutions. 19 regional Technopark, which are managed by the central government and operated by the municipalities, mainly aim to increase the wealth of its community by promoting the culture of innovation and the competitiveness of its associated businesses and knowledge-based institutions.
Daejeon TechnoPark(DJTP) nurtures hidden champions in the Daejeon metropolitan city through corporate incubation, technical support, and business support service. Corporate incubation plays the role of connecting science and technology to real markets and economic development. That is why DJTP curated its networking hub to attract entrepreneurial-minded people, skilled talents, and investments. With the purpose of facilitating the creation and growth of innovative enterprises, fostering enterprise programs of DJTP are specialized in specific industrial fields ─ICT, bio, mechtronics, and high-tech material industry─which will lead the 4th industrial revolution and role as the growth engine of the country. It stimulates and manages the flow of knowledge and technology amongst the city government, companies, markets, R&D institutions and universities; and provides other value-added services together with high quality space and facilities.
Here below are six promising companies which are supported by Daejeon Technopark.
Becoming an excellent biotech company: Bioneer Inc.
Bioneer Inc. is South Korea’s first biotechnology venture company. The head office is located in Daejeon Metropolitan City of Korea, and has local branches in the United States, China, and Europe. It is dedicated heavily in the field of DNA/RNA synthesis and PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), which is a key part of biotechnology. Therefore, it has been developing anti-obesity lactobacillus using molecular diagnosis and intestinal microorganisms since the early 2000s. The development is based on genetic technology accumulated by developing and supplying essential equipment and products from engineering countries. In addition, a subsidiary company, named siRNAgen Therapeutics Corp., was established to develop treatments for intractable diseases using its own trademarked SAMiRNA (Self-Assembled-Micelle inhibitory RNA) and to produce and sell Bioneer Inc. ‘s patented probiotics, BNR17.
At Bioneer Inc., various provisions of mole reagents and kits are developed and supplied on their own based on molecular diagnostic total solutions. The company’s nucleic acid extraction and gene amplification diagnostic kits produced excellent clinical results through diagnostic tests using COVID-19 related PCR. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bioneer Inc. has been researching and developing for a testing solution that is speedy while accurate. Many clinical laboratory consulting groups that Bioneer Inc. partnered up with set up clinical testing labs around the United States. Bioneer Inc.’s testing kit has been verified 100% for sensitivity and originality by FIND (the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics: an organization that works with the World Health Organization to develop new diagnostic tests). Now, Bioneer Inc. has become a global company that exports equipment and products related to COVID-19 to more than 80 countries.
Durable valves with high technology and quality: Samjin Precision Co., Ltd.
Samjin Precision Co., Ltd is one of the prominent quality valve manufacturers in South Korea. The valve is a core product technology of a water pipe. It is responsible for blocking and controlling the water supply by preventing it from flowing backward or damaging the pipe. Established in 1991, the company has continuously grown to be the leading manufacturer of the industry. Samjin Precision Co., Ltd provides a variety of valves, including Trunnion Ball Valve, Floating Ball Valve, and Butterfly Valve.
Samjin Precision Co., Ltd introduced Trunnion Ball Valves, specifically for the North American market. These can be applied to oil and gas production or distribution and are available in carbon, stainless and other alloys. Floating Ball Valve is mostly smaller and lighter than the Trunnion Ball Valve but on top of oil and gas production or distribution, can also be applied at petrochemical plants. Butterfly Valve is offered in many different types. These can be applied to the water and wastewater treatment and HVAC – Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning – systems.
As described through the three main products, Samjin Precision Co., Ltd’s valves are mostly used in petrochemical and oil and gas plants all over the world, not limited to South Korea. They are most renowned for producing and manufacturing valves that can withstand and operate even in severe conditions such as extreme low temperatures and extreme high pressure. Samjin’s cryogenic valves can be used in environments with temperatures as low as -320°F. The company has participated in multiple significant projects. Their valves were developed and supplied for the Korean national project for KSLV (Korea Space Launch Vehicle) – ll. The company’s business has been expanding on a global scale. Samjin has also supplied to the Forts Hills Oil Sand Project of the Canadian energy company named Suncor.
Holding more than 200 intellectual properties of new valve technologies, including 120 patents, Samjin Precision Co., Ltd strives to be a world-class valve manufacturer with the constant development of innovative technologies and rigorous quality inspection.
New business trial of this high-tech defense manufacturer will not stop: Sungjin Techwin Inc.
Sungjin Techwin Inc, which is a main player in the South Korean defense industry, is challenging the development of products in various fields that pursue human development and a happy life through a lot of experience and accumulated technology.
Sungjin Techwin Inc. entered the aerospace and military markets by developing dozens of military switches and sensors used for steering devices based on the core technology of switches and sensor components. The company, holding many domestic and foreign patents and various certificates, not only manufactures various equipment of the Korean army, navy, and air forces,but also suppliesparts applied to the F-35, the most advanced fighter. Moreover, Sungjin’s technology can provide high-quality system document protection technology in the field of surge protection.
The company is investing not only in the defense and wireless communication business, but also attempted a business trial in new fields to solve global issues and fulfill corporate social responsibility. It stands out in the wireless communication business, supplying Bluetooth modules embedded in automobiles produced by leading auto companies. Recently, the company has also succeeded in developing a sterilizing and disinfecting agent that is harmless to the human body in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sungjin Techwin Inc. will gradually expand the supply to all countries in the world so that it can contribute to humanity. Through a lot of experience and accumulated technology, the challenge of Sungjin Techwin Inc. to pioneer new markets continues.
The creativity and challenges of developing innovative drugs: Ensol Bioscience Inc.
Modern society still has many troubled constraints that cannot be solved. However, all pharmaceutical companies are working in a multi-pronged way to at least reduce what is proven through new drug development and clinical trials: side effects and toxicity. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, global pharmaceutical companies have been attracting wide press coverage, and with their research, the world is one step closer in completing the vaccine solution.
Established in 2001, Korea’s Ensol Bioscience Inc. has been building ETONS (Ensol Trans-Omics Network System), a prediction system for toxic side effects by verifying the more efficient new drug candidate materials based on its core technology, KISDD (Knowledge-based In Silico Drug Discovery). KISDD is a “bio big data-based” search platform that scans for any new drug candidates for the cure of incurable diseases. With KISDD technology, Ensol’s main focused diseases are Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD), Osteoarthritis (OA) Disease, Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).
The company’s strengths are seen as a significant reduction in costs compared to traditional drug discovery and an efficient approach to clinical trials to maximize its potential. In addition, Ensol Bioscience Inc. aims to create added value through new drug development, licensing out and products, and provide CDO (Contract Development Organization) service and CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls) based on these technologies.
Currently, the company’s access areas are so diverse, including musculoskeletal disorders, anticancer drugs, central nervous system diseases, immune diseases, and animal medicines. It is expected to show the most appropriate approach to aging and life extension, which is a concern of modern medicine.
Developing the technology to provide customized enzyme solutions: GenoFocus Inc.
GenoFocus Inc. is a platform technology company which provides customized protein and microbiome enzyme solutions. It provides optimized enzymes for its clients through its core technologies: microbial cell surface display technology, extracellular protein expression technology, spore probiotics delivery system. With its secretion expression technology, no cell disruption is needed, which enables economic mass-production. According to the explanation of the company, there are only global top three organizations and GenoFocus that have both bacillus and fungi secretory expression technologies.
The company started its business by mass-producing industrial and specialty enzymes. Now it expands its territory not only into production of bio-health ingredients ━cosmeceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, and agriculture━but also into development of enzyme microbiome new drugs and vaccines. GenoFocus is also drawing attention with its development of Proteinase K, a serine protease that exhibits a very broad cleavage specificity. It is a key component of most RNA extraction kits for detection of the novel coronavirus. Since there was a shortage of Proteinase K in the mid of last year, the capability of GenoFocus to mass-produce the proteinase is expected to play a key role in moving out of the pandemic as quickly as possible.
GenoFocus Inc. is now preparing to build a cGMP(current Good Manufacturing Practices) plant that can produce microbiome microbial drugs and their effective substances by the end of this year. Besides its current enzyme portfolio, its current and future R&D is expected to complete more delicate technology in developing enzymes to alleviate health problems associated with digestion, gastrointestinal disease, inflammation, autoimmune disease and aging.
Providing innovative fiber optics technology with quality and value: FIBERPRO Inc.
FIBERPRO is a company that develops various experimental photonics and telecommunications and optical sensing components based on fiber. Fiber optics are fibers that transmit throughout the entire body without the loss of light. It is made of glass fiber with different densities and refractories inside and outside, which can transmit large amounts of data far away compared to typical copper wires, and is better at high temperatures due to low data loss and low electromagnetic interference. It is mainly used to transmit data at two-thirds of the speed of light at the destination by converting communication and related electrical signals into light. It is also used for imaging, light microscope sensor laser, and light decoration. The principles are all the same, but they are to convert light or day into a form of light and collect it or to transmit it over a long distance.
FIBERPRO’s Fiber Sensing System can measure temperature changes with its fiber technology and can be used in many different fields of industry such as power plants, buildings, pipelines and more. Like this, it is a key industry in all areas that mainly use Hyundai 5G or data. Therefore, it is especially based on technology or physics. This Korean company is deeply involved in the developmental factors of modern society such as polarization controllers and phase modulator inertial measurement devices. It received an award from the mayor of Daejeon city as one of the most promising SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) of the city. It already has distributor systems in Israel, Australia, Japan, China, and Taiwan. Besides Asia, it has two trading lines in Europe and North America. FIBERPRO Inc. will only continue to grow to reach the pinnacle of technology development in transportation, communication, and satellites.
Kayla Hong
Asia Journal
