KT supports Korean startups at MWC
Students at the Korea Science Academy of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, who were invited to the 2015 Mobile World Congress, pose in front of a KT booth inside the Innovation City Hall in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday (KST). / Courtesy of KT
By Kim Yoo-chul
BARCELONA, Spain ― KT is stepping up efforts to help tech startups find business opportunities at home and abroad.
KT has taken the chief executives of six Korean startups to the Mobile World Congress (MWC) so they can show off their business models to overseas clients.
It also invited a group of high school students from the Korea Science Academy of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to the fair.
Over the past few years, KT has been running the so-called “K-Champ” program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“We need innovative ideas and business suggestions within the IoT frame,” company spokesman Park Chang-gyu said. “Today, billions of devices are being connected, meaning that KT can’t do it alone or manage it all. We need support from idea-enriched startups. Our role is to help them develop new ideas into real business.”
Startups expressed hope that bigger companies will help them get into the overseas market.
“As a small startup, it’s not easy to participate in a global tech fair,” said April Kim, CEO of Chatting Cat. “We appreciate KT’s decision to bring us here. By using KT's global channels, we will be able to export our services.”
Chatting Cat offers an English proofreading service to workers and those who want to improve their English skills.
“We see a lot of people using incorrect English,” Kim said. “Our qualified tutoring system is receiving a good response from firms in the Middle East and Spain.
“We want to help our customers improve their English communication. At the MWC, we have met many potential buyers.”
Kim Yoon-sik, an official from S-Connect, a healthcare startup, said he had had opportunities to promote its products, which operate within the IoT frame by using big data solutions.
AQ Corp., another Korean startup, has benefited from the K-Champ program because its near-field communication (NFC) wireless technology will be used in KT's joint business projects with the Global System for Telecommunications Association (GSMA), the body that establishes standards in telecommunications.
“This is what we want from large companies” said You Young-su, a manager at AQ Corp. “We were given a chance to brief our NFC technologies to GSMA officials during the exhibition and received constructive results.”
The high school students invited by KT said their experience at the MWC gave them a chance to think about what to study at college.
“I have interests in learning three-dimensional and drone technologies,” said Cho Jung-min, a student from the Korea Science Academy. “I’ve visited some relevant booths, which was really exciting.”