For NT Energizing Industrial
Competitive Edge
- MOCIE selects winners in various sectors after tough screening

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy(MOCIE) announced the list of the recipients of the 7th New Industrial Technology Grand Prizes on Jan. 19.
The list included Selimtech Co., LG Cable Co., Samsung SDI Co., Telechips Co.,Upson Co., and Kumho Tire Co.
The companies have been selected out of 41 firms recommended by 11 technology-related organizations including the University Industrial Technology Force, Technopark, and Women in Science Engineering and Technology in Korea following two tough screenings. The final selection ratio recorded 7:1.
MOCIE Minister Lee Hee-beom presented the awards to the winners at the large auditorium of MOCIE on Jan. 19 including trophies, plaques and cash.
Selimtech(President Uhm Byung-yun) won the award for its development of a cigar-type ignition coil, which doesn't need the ignition plug cable, enabling an improvement in the lay out of the engine room, upgraded energy effect, cost reduction and others. The company sold 14 billion won worth of the product to auto makers in the country including Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors. The equipment was installed on such sedans as EF, Optima LPG, Avante XD, and Cerato, among others. This year, the company expects to dominate 72 percent of the market with its share of the world market jumping to 12 percent in addition to import substitution effect of 44 billion won this year.
The company with 230 employees is capitalized at 3.6 billion won. Its sales last year reached 40 billion won. The company projects to sell 50 billion won worth of the product this year with $4 million in exports.
LG Cable(Vice Chairman Koo Ja-yul) captured the award for developing an electric plastic mould for the first time in the country, an environment-friendly as it is clean since it does not need oil to move with low noises, saving power by 70 percent compared to traditional ones. Its market now is valued at 900 billion won, growing an annual average of 10 percent. In the next three years, import substitution would total around 32 billion won, while its exports amount to 28 billion won.
Samsung SDI(President Kim Soon-taik) clinched the award with its digital Vixslim TV, which reduced the depth of TV from 60 cm to 38 cm with its own technology. Its sales in the next 6 years are projected to reach 4.478 trillion won. TV makers are expected to save $10 per TV set in production costs due to slimmed down size of the sets in addition to $1.5 in packaging costs and raising productivity by around 5 percent due to improved production processes.
The company is capitalized at 240.7 billion won with over 8,000 employees at its plants in Suwon, near Seoul. Its sales last year are estimated to have reached 6.073,7 trillion won, most of them coming from exports totaling $5.574,3 billion.
Telechips Co.(President Suh Min-ho) won the award for developing chips for MP3 used on MP3, WMA and OGG audio.
The company sold 4 million chips last year, taking up 18 percent of its world market. The mobile MP3 market is estimated to grow to 48 million units, growing at the rate of 45 percent per year.
Telechips, set up in 1999, is capitalized at 4 billion won with the number of employees totaling 82. Its sales last year recorded 42.3 billion won as of November and sales for this year are targeted at 80.3 billion won, most of them coming from exports at $61 million.
Upson Co.(President Park Sung-soo) captured the award for developing an automatic system for storing dye powders helping to cut production process and boosting productivity.
Since its price is 50 percent lower than those being imported, it will have a great import substitute effect, reducing production costs and making exports competitive.
The company began to market the product in August, 2003, recording 2.12 billion won in sales, which increased to 2.75 billion won last year. The company targets to sell 5 billion won this year with $940,000 coming from exports.
The company, set up in 1999, is capitalized at 50 million won with 17 employees at its plant in Gyungsan, North Gyeongsang Province.
Kumho Tire Co.(President Oh Se-chul) won the award for developing a top-quality tires for cars in Full Line Up design with a top technology. The company is credited with developing a creative value-added portion on the existing UHP tire allowing consumers to enjoy a new life style through a new design and product development. The company's UHP tires have been improved to be used for sports racing cars; The company also made an All Season UHP tires so that vehicles with those tires can be driven in the snow.
The top-quality tires sold 10.526 billion won worth in the country, in addition to 237.652 billion won sold overseas with exports to North America alone coming to 151.652 billion won last year. The company's domestic market share stands at 63.4 percent, tops in the country, and the new tire's valued-added portion is 17 times the normal tire.
The company, set up in 1960, is capitalized at 550.5 billion won with over 5,000 employees at its plants in Gwangju. Its total sales last year amounted to 1.647,2 trillion won with $901 million coming from exports and operating profits at 132.6 billion won. It targets to sell 1.806,9 trillion won worth of tires this year with exports projected at $1.064 billion and operating profit of 181.5 billion won. nw