OREANDA-NEWS. July 18, 2014. POSCO held the 7th Idea Marketplace at POSCO Center in Seoul.

Hangsik Park, the creative economic coordinator from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, POSCO CEO Oh-joon Kwon and the POSCO presidential board as well as investors, government officials and citizens attended the event. It was shown that both private and public sectors have great interest in invigorating venture businesses.

`Idea Marketplace` is the main venture business startup supporting and job creation program of POSCO, which collects new business ideas to introduce them to investors or make direct investment.

12 companies including three would-be startup teams belonging to POSTECH and nine startups promoted by POSCO itself participated in this 7th Idea Marketplace, and introduced their businesses to investors and the public.

The nine startups included Moonmu, Korea Metal Silicon, Laminar, UTC, Fine Solution, CNFK, IASSET, Haebora and MTCom that were selected for the 7th POSCO Idea Marketplace Program earlier this year and received 10-week intense mentoring support from April 14th through June 20th.

They introduced ideas related to compelling technologies in chemical and material industries, which could be further developed in connection with new business of POSCO. In particular, Laminar (CEO Jongpal Hong) is developing a machine to manufacture a cathode material for secondary cells, and a carbon-composite material developed by CNFK (CEO Seongjae Kim) is used for a key part of insulators or photovoltaic generating facilities.

POSTECH`s venture technologies also drew the attention of visitors. Three would-be startup teams where all members are either POSTECH students or researchers demonstrated a biodegradable stent that could solve artery hardening using a bio 3D printer, a large-sized electric automobile battery management system and a location-based emotion delivering SNS app inspired by dandelion spores through this event.

``I am glad to take the chance to introduce our business to many investors and the public through this venture partnership program of POSCO. I hope that venture companies get more chances to introduce venture companies to as many people as possible``, said Sanghoon Yoon, CEO of Moonmu producing silver-coated copper powder and tungsten carbide nano-powder.

``With the Idea Marketplace that became a stable venture-supporting platform, POSCO contributed to creating a virtuous circle in the venture business ecosystem. POSCO will continue to take the initiative in building and supporting the venture business ecosystem in Korea``, said CEO Kwon.

Meanwhile, POSCO has invested about 6.3 billion won into a total of 35 companies since 2011 and attracted 10 billion won worth of investment from the outside, promoting venture businesses.

Any individual or startup with ideas can apply for POSCO`s venture partnership program through their homepage (www.poscoventure.co.kr) year-round.