Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (CEO Kim Won-kyung) operated the 2025 Startup Leap Package support program, backing the growth of companies in their 3–7 year leap phase after founding. Organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, the program selected a total of 46 companies, including 26 large enterprise-collaboration type companies working with conglomerates such as KT and LG Electronics, and 20 Korea Venture Investment Corp. (KVIC) co-investment type companies. It provides up to KRW 200 million in business funding and an accelerating program that includes growth strategy consulting.


In addition, the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation runs various startup support programs for startups at multiple stages, focusing on revitalizing the domestic startup market and discovering and nurturing outstanding startups. Among these startups, it has selected and introduces here exemplary companies that achieved notable results last year and are expected to perform strongly in 2026.

‘Cobot System’ leading innovation for the mobility disadvantaged and logistics sites

Cobot System (CEO Geun Jong-hyun) is a startup based in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, that pursues socio-economic value. Since its incorporation in December 2021, it has developed innovative products to guarantee mobility rights for the mobility disadvantaged and to improve logistics sites.

Its flagship product is “Miracle Wheel,” which can be applied to all wheels, both manual and electric. This product solves the “obstacle crossing” problem, which had been a major barrier to ensuring mobility rights for the mobility disadvantaged. In September 2023, the company developed a push-type Miracle Wheel, and in March of the same year it also filed a patent for an electric Miracle Wheel, continuing its technology development. It has also completed production preparations for “MovePax,” a vertical lifting device for logistics sites, thereby expanding its product lineup.


In January last year, at CES 2025 in the United States, Cobot System received Innovation Awards in the mobility robot category of the “Vehicle Tech & Advanced Mobility” segment and in the wheelchair category of the “Human Security” segment, gaining recognition for its global technological competitiveness. It was also selected as a “Little Penguin” company by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and as an excellent company by Anyang City, receiving the Anyang Mayor’s Award.

Cobot System is also active in the semiconductor industry. Since 2022, it has supplied semiconductor rework (disassembly/reassembly) equipment to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, building cooperative relationships with large corporations. In 2024, it was selected for the national R&D program TIPS, thereby receiving government support. It obtained venture company certification in 2023 and won the “KOICA Development Venture Award” from the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency, earning recognition for creating social value as well.

‘Connect Brick’ producing food service and commerce content with AI technology

Connect Brick (CEO Jang Hong-seok) is a startup specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) image generation, founded in January 2021. Headquartered in Daejeon, it is developing generative AI-based B2B SaaS solutions under the mission of converting all corporate business content through AI transformation (AX).

Connect Brick’s strength lies in securing core technologies through the transfer of object detection and instance segmentation technologies from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). Leveraging its deep learning-based image generation AI technology, it helps clients easily produce marketing content.


Its main service, “Zector Studio,” is an AI image generation platform for small food service business owners. With just a single photo taken directly by the owner, it automatically generates a variety of marketing content such as menu photos, promotional images, and posters.

As a solution that reduces the budget and time required for conventional studio photography, it provides accurately and rapidly generated outputs and offers integration with delivery apps and POS systems, delivering an AI solution that food service operators can immediately apply to their operations.

An intuitive UX that even elderly owners with low digital accessibility can use without burden is another feature of Zector Studio. In August last year, the company released a demo version of “Zector Studio Commerce” for commerce sellers.

Connect Brick’s independently developed Showfit technology regenerates uploaded products while maintaining their original shape, color, and texture. This allows consistent quality and brand identity to be reliably maintained even when the same product is placed in a variety of backgrounds. Connect Brick holds four proprietary patents and uses datasets that have completed copyright review to provide customized AI solutions for each enterprise.

‘Space & Bean’ presenting a new standard for the ‘K-Protection’ platform, from space to everyday life

Space & Bean (CEO Min Kyung-ryeong) is a startup specializing in electromagnetic wave and radiation protection solutions, aiming to build a protection platform that covers everything from a small bean on the ground to outer space. Its main business areas include the manufacture and supply of parts for space vehicles, medical devices, and information and communication equipment, as well as software development. With optimized shielding material technology, it provides solutions that protect the human body and various equipment from harmful environments such as space radiation, X-rays, and electromagnetic waves.

The core of Space & Bean’s new shielding material lies in its innovative technology that compensates for the shortcomings of existing materials. This new material, which uses iron and boron as its base raw materials, offers advantages such as low cost, excellent shielding performance, light weight, and human safety. It is also flexible in that the shielding effectiveness, characteristics, and form can be altered depending on which additional raw materials are blended in.


Lead, a conventional protection material, is highly effective but harmful to the human body and heavy, while barium sulfate is harmless and lightweight but has significantly lower shielding performance. To address this, Space & Bean has commercialized around 30 types of materials to date, and because they can be produced in various forms ranging from films to wallpaper, the scope of application is broad.

CEO Min Kyung-ryeong emphasizes that radiation exists not only in space but also on the ground, underscoring in particular the risks of artificial radiation. Space & Bean is planning to develop blankets that can block radiation exposure to pregnant women when they travel by air and electromagnetic waves generated when using mobile phones, as well as lightweight medical protective garments that can replace the lead aprons used in hospitals. The company currently has product lines such as SCUTUM R, SCUTUM P, and SCUTUM X, and has acquired CE, KOLAS, ISO 9001:2015, and ISO 13485:2016 certifications, as well as a license for medical device manufacturing.

Based on its technological capabilities, Space & Bean is pursuing industrial expansion and collaboration. It has signed a joint research agreement for the development of next-generation satellite materials with PI Advanced Materials, the global No. 1 company in the PI market, and HINEND, a specialist in satellite thermal insulation technology.

CEO Min Kyung-ryeong stated, “Our goal is to raise the domestic content rate of next-generation satellite materials based on polyimide materials,” adding, “We will build a K-Protection platform that applies 3D printing and AI analysis to develop optimal material formulations and forms tailored to specific facilities and conditions.”

‘Medi I Plus’ addressing the imbalance in clinical trial data

Medi I Plus (CEO Jung Ji-hee) is a startup providing global clinical trial data, founded in February 2019 and based in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. CEO Jung, a former pharmaceutical physician, decided to start the company after identifying the challenges of information accessibility and work efficiency, having experienced the labor-intensive reality of having to individually collect and analyze massive amounts of data on patents, clinical trials, regulations, and guidelines required in the drug development process.


Medi I Plus offers two core services to resolve inefficiencies in the clinical trial preparation process. “MediC” is a data-based clinical trial design and drug patent-linked customized report service that provides, in real time, clinical trial and drug patent information dispersed across multiple countries, the latest clinical trial-linked designs, and regulatory insight information.

“PIQRO” is a service that matches suitable contract research organizations (CROs) for clients’ clinical and non-clinical trials based on a digital request for proposal, dramatically shortening the previously time- and cost-intensive process of finding a CRO. In a closed beta test (CBT), a UK biotech company reduced a process that had taken five months to just 12 days, cutting clinical trial preparation time from several months to a few days and reducing costs by up to 80–90%.

Medi I Plus obtained venture company certification in 2020 and has also acquired ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications. In 2022, it was recognized for its technological capabilities by advancing to the finals of MassChallenge in the United States and being selected for the TIPS program. Moreover, in a short period since its establishment in 2019, it has secured global scalability with data covering 221 countries and has built a network with numerous global CROs, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies.

Furthermore, while helping domestic pharmaceutical and biotech companies expand overseas, it is strengthening its role as a cross-border clinical trial hub that supports Asian market entry by foreign pharmaceutical companies, and is expanding cooperation with Southeast Asian regions, including Vietnam. In September last year, the company participated in IFA 2025, the world’s largest home appliances and tech exhibition, and received the “IFA Innovation Honoree Award” in the “Best in Tech for Good” category.

CEO Jung Ji-hee emphasized, “Clinical trials are not merely a process for data but can be a desperate choice that represents the last hope in a patient’s life,” adding, “If data-based solutions can save even one more life, it is a sufficiently meaningful challenge.”

IT Donga reporter Lee Moon-gyu (munch@itdonga.com)

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