SK Ecoplant selects four companies at ConTech Meet-Up

South Korea's SK Ecoplant Co. said on Friday it held the "2024 ConTech Meet-Up Day" award ceremony at the Grand Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul.

ConTech Meet-Up Day is an open technology competition launched by SK Ecoplant to discover domestic small businesses and startups with innovative technologies and support them in commercialization and R&D. First launched in 2020, this year marks its fifth event.

The event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT's Korea Innovation Foundation, the Chungnam Regional SMEs and Startups Administration, Seoul National University, the Korea International Trade Association, Creative Economy Innovation Centers in Seoul and Chungnam, SK Securities, and others from the public, academic, and investment sectors.

SK Ecoplant’s subsidiaries, including SK Oceanplant and Renewus, will also collaborate on joint R&D with the award-winning companies.

This year, 87 technologies were submitted in fields such as semiconductors, environment, energy, and smart construction. After document screening and presentations, four technologies were selected: three in the semiconductor field and one in the environmental field. Selection criteria included innovation, business potential, and joint development possibilities.

The final winning technologies are as follows: Cement substitute production from semiconductor waste hydrofluoric acid sludge (semiconductor field, Carbon Reduction); Development of semiconductor cleaning equipment using pulse and vacuum modules (semiconductor field, Twoin Tech); Recovery of high-purity hydrofluoric acid and silica from semiconductor waste (semiconductor field, EcoShine); and Sludge solubilization from wastewater using ultrasonic, nanobubble and oxidizing technologies (environmental field, H&M Bio).

Twoin Tech was chosen as the top winner and will receive a commendation from the Minister of SMEs and Startups.

The award-winning companies will continue with joint R&D alongside SK Ecoplant and relevant subsidiaries.

They will also receive support for government funding and investment attraction from public, academic, and investment institutions participating as co-hosts.

After technology refinement, they may be considered for business collaboration with SK Ecoplant.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com