Korean startups win 4 out of 23 Best of Innovations at CES 2023

LAS VEGAS – South Korean startups have won four out of the 23 Best of Innovation awards from Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which hosts CES 2023, the world's largest tech exhibition during Jan. 5 -8.

The four startups are Dot Inc., a manufacturer of a tactile graphic device for the visually impaired and the blind; Graphene Square, which has created a virtual fireplace that generates heat from graphene, a thin and strong material; Zkrypto Inc., a cybersecurity firm which has developed a public blockchain voting app; and Verses Inc., a metaverse music streaming system maker.

In addition to the Best of Innovations, about 100 Korean startups were named Innovation Awards Honorees by the tech event host.

A total of 355 Korean startups have set up booths at the Las Vegas, Nevada exhibition site. The number represents a 20% increase from 63 in the previous year. It is more than 12 times the number of 28 Korean startup participants in 2017.

State-owned Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) will showcase around 90 local startups at an exhibition booth. The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the ministry of small and mid-sized enterprises will jointly introduce other 50 startups.

Startups backed by academic institutions, such as Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST), POSTECH, Seoul National University and Hanyang University, and the Korea Water Resources Corp. will also join the exhibition show.

Conglomerates will also showcase tech startups backed by their venture acceleration platforms.

Samsung Electronics Co. will unveil 12 startups and projects it has nurtured via its venture accelerator C-Lab. The projects selected for the show focus on metaverse and digital solutions for healthcare, delivery service, shopping and cultural experiences.

Hyundai Motor Group will introduce 10 startups it has supported through its ZERO1NE startup acceleration program. Among the startups are 60 Hertz, a renewables solutions provider, and eMotiv, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) therapeutics developer. 

Online portal giant Naver Corp.'s venture accelerator D2SF and Kakao Ventures Corp. will also introduce a total of 26 startups they have supported. 

Write to Jong-Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.