On November 28, ‘10th Korea Grand Sourcing Fair 2017' was held at COEX D Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

The ‘10th Korea Grand Sourcing Fair 2017', which will be held until the November 29th, will connect Korean with overseas and regional large distribution corporations, manufacturing companies, and consumer goods import vendors for both on-line and off-line to support the export of domestic products through a large global distribution network.

The event, which will be held for the 10th time since 2008, is sponsored by Korea International Trade Association (KITA), sponsored by Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and KB Kookmin Bank. In this event, 140 foreign big buyers, 20 WTC member companies, 900 domestic export companies and 100 PPL companies participate in consultation activities and incidental events.

'2017 Startup Challenge Platform Demo Day', an incidental event of ‘10th Korea Grand Sourcing Fair 2017', is an exhibition as well as demo day of '6-month Challenge Platform' progressed by Seoul Center for Creative Economy and Innovation. It is prepared by Seoul Center for Creative Economy and Innovation to raise the opportunities of investment and business linkage by informing the accomplishments of the startups that were fostered through the project period to private accelerator and investing institutions.

'Company IR,' one of the main events of '2017 Startup Challenge Platform Demo Day', is prepared for the selected companies to introduce their outcomes, targeting domestic angel investors, accelerators, and VCs, and 6 companies participated.


The first company, Leedeyeon, is aiming to build a design cloud resourcing platform. It developed the first item, Bluetooth speaker 'Cork Speaker', to mass-produce and sell.

The product, which is being prepared through the ‘2017 6-month Challenge Platform’, is a smart diffuser device called 'Aromize' that allows users to change fragrance in real time. This product features a variety of effects such as sleep, concentration, relaxation can be changed by the user in real time, and aromatherapy can be easily used according to the user's needs.

Leedeyeon plans to sell the device through a home shopping or shopping platform and then sell the aroma essential oil continuously. The business plan is expected to increase sales of about KRW 5 billion in annual sales with 'Cork Speaker' and KRW 15 billion in annual sales with 'Aromize' by 2019, and it also plans to progress other design projects.

The second company, Ambitionem, which is a new bag brand that was established in 2017, created a DIY backpack with customizable features to help travelers traveling around the world know their whereabouts while leaving their travel records. This product is available in two sizes, 60 liters and 40 liters, depending on the itinerary or body type. Customizable colors for the map on the backpack are gold, silver and national flag colors.

Ambitionem uses domestic factories to produce small quantities quickly and Vietnamese factories to produce large quantities at low cost. As a brand strategy, they use high-value branding and rare value strategy. They promote through travel community and creator, and they are trying to optimize targeting and to build credibility.

Meanwhile, the plan for the future is to develop backpacks, which can be opened like carriers, and domestic DIY backpacks, which changed the world map to domestic map, with the aim of mass production in February next year. They will also actively participate in the buyer matching program and develop into overseas markets.

The third company, UnitySoft, presented 'C2M', which synthesizes and generates MRI images with CT images.

CT is a method of transmitting radiation through a difference in transmittance, and MRI is a method of calculating the time difference when the arrangement of water molecules changes using a magnetic field. So, the result of each image shows different results. However, the disadvantage is that MRI is expensive and the time it takes is so long that patients are burdened in taking both types of images.

Therefore, 'C2M' deep learning model that synthesizes MRI image with CT image is prepared and it is based on GAN (Generative Adversarial Network). In the course of the process, they used 200 paired data to repeat the deep learning model and gradually improved the performance. Based on this, the result was close to the original aim, but it lacked detail to replace the MRI.

Unitysoft has set a goal of 'C2M' as a secondary goal to provide information on whether to additionally take an MRI in the presence of only CT images, and it is developing tools to replace full CT or MRI.




The fourth company, SkyMap, is developing three-dimensional GIS client engine.

Trends in geographic information industry using GIS engines include fine-resolution aerial photographs, three-dimensional precision mapping services, and web-based services. However, existing products based on Web-GL have disadvantages that the implementation speed is slow and the quality of the texture is degraded.

Therefore, SkyMap is aimed at high quality textures by using a new engine service that follows the HTML5 web standard, and implementing a texture through an algorithm that finding repeating patterns in buildings.

In addition, by equipping the viewer optimized to web and mobile, it will be possible to check map data well anytime, any place. Also, the update for providing high-quality map data to further games, autonomous driving, smart city, and VR/AR.

The fifth company, Axleless, is a technology company developing 'Axleless motor'.

'Axleless motor' is a motor that can transfer fluid by itself by combining a hollow structure rotor and a cylindrical impeller (rotating blades inside the centrifugal pump). This product have simple structure and low manufacturing cost, and can be used for a suction motor, a pump, a ship propulsion device of a vacuum cleaner.

In the case of a propeller system, which is widely used in propulsion system of ship, it is disadvantageous in that it may be damaged due to an external impact or may cause various accidents due to rotating blades. Therefore, by replacing the product with an axleless motor, it would be safer since the blades are not exposed to the outside, and the battery can be stored together, which can help the space utilization.

As for the application range of this 'impeller integral motor', Axleless, mentioned electric powered automobiles, ships, and personal power devices for leisure.

Lastly, the sixth company, Vrani, is developing VR content for children.

Jung Hwi-yeong, CEO of Vrani, said at the beginning of the presentation, "Recently, children are excluded from the VR market." The reason for this is that it is difficult for children to access HMD, how to install and play the device is difficult, and that the VR content market is becoming adult-oriented.

In order to provide VR's realistic experience to children, we need more advanced elements than adults need, and through this '6-month challenge platform', the company made efforts to optimizing existing 2D GUI interface to VR and contrive UX/UI system most optimized to VR in which users interact with characters by emphasizing naturalness through dialogue and gestures by interactions with the character.

To do this, Vrani utilized KIST-patented technology, which is a real-time motion recognition algorithm-based VR motion sickness reduction content, to reduce delay time, so that duration of flights in actions like jumping, left and right side-crawl walking, and multi-platform support became possible.

Currently, Vrani has built a VR content product line that introduces character IP and related products, develops 15 kinds of VR mini games, and enhances inductivity according to children's tastes. In the future, these products will be distributed to shopping malls, theaters, theme parks, and family restaurants, and consultations with some franchises are under way.