From Lab Technology to Profitable Business… Taking Responsibility from Discovery to Startup and Exit

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The government-set R&D budget for next year is approximately 39.5 trillion won, the largest ever. Thanks to such policy support, tens of thousands of research outcomes are produced annually by funded research institutes and universities. However, cases where these outcomes lead to products and services that generate revenue and jobs are rare. Even when technology transfer or startup formation succeeds, many cases stall at the investment attraction and market entry stages.

The government has not been idle regarding the commercialization of public technologies. On the contrary, support projects have been abundant. A research team at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) conducted a comprehensive survey of government budgets since 2000, finding that there were approximately 1,330 confirmed technology commercialization support projects. The number of technology holding companies officially designated by the government also reaches around 100.

Nevertheless, commercialization results have fallen short of expectations. Son Soo-jung, Head of the System Innovation Division at STEPI, pointed out, "While claiming to grow deep tech startups into unicorns (non-listed companies with a corporate valuation of over 1 trillion won), we must reflect on why there are no unicorns among the technology holding companies that actually nurture them."

Experts cite the 'fragmentation' of the support system as a core reason why public technology commercialization is difficult. Universities are a prime example. Technology transfer is handled by industry-academia cooperation foundations, startup formation by technology holding companies, and startup incubation by startup support agencies, respectively. Organizations performing similar functions operate redundantly within universities, leading to a structure where personnel and budgets are dispersed. Technology transfer organizations are not accustomed to startups, and startup support organizations lack understanding of the technology, making it difficult to achieve results.

The situation at funded research institutes is not significantly different. In particular, there is a significant gap between securing research outcomes such as patents and actually entering the market. At this stage, Proof of Concept (PoC), certification, market validation, business model design, startup team formation, and investment linkage must occur simultaneously. However, there is effectively no entity responsible for overseeing all these processes from start to finish.

There are also limitations in the support methods. It takes deep tech at least five years and up to more than 10 years for laboratory technology to be completed as a commercial product. In contrast, most government support projects are operated as small-scale tasks on a one- to two-year basis. Critics point out that this fails to properly reflect the characteristics of deep tech, which requires long-term technology validation and market development.

In response to these issues, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Science and Technology Employment (COMPA) introduced the Technology Commercialization Comprehensive Specialized Company this year, designating three entities: Blue Point Partners, Korea Science & Technology Holding (KST), and Yonsei University Technology Holding. These institutional investors will receive support of 3 billion won annually for five years from 2026 to 2030, totaling 15 billion won.

Along with this, the 'NEST (Network for Expansion in Science & Technology Transfer) Consultative Body,' involving a total of 13 institutional investors including 10 company builders (startup planning firms), was also launched. Participating company builders include technology holdings from Seoul National University, Korea University, Pusan National University, and Kyungpook National University, Gwangju Regional University Alliance Technology Holding, Hanyang University ERICA Technology Holding, Atri Holdings, and KIST Innovation. The three Technology Commercialization Comprehensive Specialized Companies will serve as the chairpersons of the consultative body, promoting joint investments and joint planning startups.

The Technology Commercialization Comprehensive Specialized Company differs from existing technology intermediary agencies that introduce technologies to companies and receive fees. It directly discovers technologies with commercialization potential, leads the process through market validation and business model design up to corporate establishment. Subsequently, it forms startup teams, supports investment attraction and corporate growth, and then recovers investment funds through listing or mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The recovered funds are reinvested in new technology commercialization. It is an execution entity responsible for the entire process from technology discovery to investment recovery.

The three Technology Commercialization Comprehensive Specialized Companies are operating differentiated commercialization models by leveraging their respective strengths. First, Blue Point, a deep tech-focused investment firm, operates an 'agenda-centered program' that brings together technology holders from universities and funded research institutes, large corporations, investors, and market experts at the early stage. The strategy is to connect technology and markets bidirectionally through venture studio-style company building and directly lead the commercialization and startup formation of promising technologies.

KST, whose portfolio corporate valuation exceeds 250 trillion won, operates a 'startup factory' that extends from market validation by the Ministry of Education to planning startups, investment, and scale-up. This approach connects UST (University of Science and Technology) startup education, TexCore (Laboratory Startup Innovation Unit) market validation, and deep tech planning startup challenges with NST (National Research Foundation of Korea) into a single pipeline.

Yonsei University Technology Holding is promoting an inter-university joint subsidiary model. This follows recent amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Industry-Academia Cooperation Act, which enabled technology transfer and startup formation utilizing patents held by other universities or funded research institutes. Yonsei University Technology Holding, which has positioned itself as 'the first university-based Technology Commercialization Comprehensive Specialized Company,' plans to expand its commercialization domain by combining technologies and resources between universities in light of this institutional change.

Experts view this system as the first test ground to gauge whether it can change the landscape of public technology commercialization. Lee Yong-gwan, CEO of Blue Point, stated, "The bottleneck in public technology commercialization is not the technology itself, but 'Lab to Market,' that is, the capability to connect technology to the market." He added, "If specialized organizations participate and manage strategically from before commercialization, we will experience effects such as breaking down barriers and accelerating corporate growth."

[Money Today startup media platform Unicorn Factory]