Who We Are
for your business transformation.
Eco System
The Invention Lab
SEA Market
Subsidiary company builder in Vietnam
The domestic
Promotion of Open Innovation strategy
Technology Scouting & Investment
In-House Startup Acceleration/Education
MVP build center
SW MVP build center > Build X
User/Customer verification center
Performance marketing
Legal/accounting/patent rights advice
Legal advice
Accounting/Tax advice
Patent rights advice
Deep understanding and profound insight into Open Innovation
However, developing and implementing a good Open Innovation strategy is not easy. The Invention Lab has the know-how and experience gained from carrying out various open innovation projects with large companies in telecommunications, finance and manufacturing. The Invention Lab delivers successful results by building strategies and processes optimized for the company.
Helper for major corporations who understands start-ups the best
Establishing Rapid Prototyping system through MVP build center
Cross-Border business to support going Global
The Invention Lab is working on a project to find, incubate and M&A a local technology-based start-up team through subsidiary company builder based in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
The invention Lab also support the entry of qualified domestic start-up business models into the Asian market and follow-up investment.
CEO & Advisory Board
Jin Young Kim
CEO, Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration(Ph.D)
Jin Young Kim, the CEO, was in charge of strategic planning at Softbank Media, a media affiliate of Softbank Korea in 1997, and served as Managing Director of Softbank Research & Consulting. In 2003, Kim established the Roa Group, a consulting firm specialized in the IT market such as wired and wireless communication / device, in Tokyo, Japan (Co-Founder). Kim then established Roa Consulting Korea corporation in 2004, and has led BM development and new business strategy consulting for 14 years for domestic leading mobile operators and device makers. Kim resigned as CEO of Roa Consulting in February 2017, and then founded his second founding, a separate independent corporation, Roa Invetion Lab (company name will be changed to The Invention Lab). He is currently sole CEO of Roa Invention Lab (accelerating brand is The Invention Lab), which fosters and discovers innovative technology-based startups and venture companies.
He has been interested in innovating business models since 2012. He designed and developed a business model game methodology based on gamification techniques, and has run business model planning / development / evaluation programs for large business executives and start-ups / venture companies. He intuited that the boundaries of industry were collapsing due to platform business models, and that traditional business models were being dismantled or the boundaries between industries are crumbling down with the advent of innovative technology startups, and has developed and operated a platform strategy research and workshop programs. The Invention Lab is a company established to directly carry out these efforts and ideas.
The Invention Lab was established to discover- foster -invest in platform startups pursuing technological innovation, and has developed a new start-up accelerating program from the Open Innovation strategic point of view, securing its position as an operating partner, along with large companies in the manufacturing, finance and telecommunications sectors (SK Telecom, KB Kookmin Card, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor Group, CJ Olive Networks, Samsung Fire, Kyobo Life Insurance, Welcome Financial group, etc. Establishment of purposeful angel investment association and joint seed investment with large companies, plan – develop – operate – result measurement- follow-up management of joint Open Innovation Program).
Kim received a Ph.D. with a research on the formation and evolution of two-sided market of mobile service platform (Ph.D., Business Administration, Kyung Hee University). Kim’s books include ‘Interrobang, the Innovation Icon that Changes the World (2011)’, ‘Vertical Platform Revolution (2012)’, ‘Business Model Game (2013)’, ‘Digital Transformation, how will you do it? (2017)’.
Graduated from Korea University, HSE (Helsinki School of Economics) MBA(E-Business major)
Seok-pil Kim
Co-CEO, Venture Partner
Seok-pil Kim, the co-CEO and venture partner, worked as a manager for various business strategy projects in Samsung Global Strategy Group, a think tank organization of Samsung. He is a global sales-marketing-strategy expert who served as president of Samsung Electronics’ European Headquarters and head of global marketing at Samsung Electronics (CMO, vice president). Kim managed global marketing / strategy for 16 years as a head of Samsung Electronics’ UK, France and European branches. He has experience in sales of IT and home appliances such as mobile phones, TVs, and computer monitors. The products which he was in charge of sales took biggest share in the market
Seok-pil Kim, the co-CEO/venture partner joined The Invention Lab as a lead investor in ‘investment association for new technology entering Vietnamese market’, and plays an intermediary role enabling early start-ups of Korea to enter the global market, especially the Vietnamese market emerging as the center of Asia. He is demonstrating his competence in building local corporate networks, international government affairs, and establishing local marketing strategies
HEC(France Grandes Ecole) MBA, Graduated from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (french literature, economics).
Major Career Backgrounds
Samsung HQ Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Chief of Mobile Phone Sales/Marketing Head of B2B, CSR, GR
Samsung Europe President & CEO (2010 – 2013)
Samsung France President (2007- 2010)
Samsung UK President (2005 – 2007)
Samsung Group Chairman’s Office Global Strategist Group (1997 – 2004)
2019/20
– Vietnam Investment Fund for Startup Companies (No. 1 & 2)
2019 VKBIA
– Vietnam Korea Business Investment Association Founding Member
2005-2015 Samsung Electronics
– Corporate Marketing Case: Sports Marketing (Chelsea Sponsorship)
2013 Samsung Electronics Europe HQ
– Samsung Electronics Europe Turnover: Historic Record 39 Billion USD
2012 Samsung Electronics
– Corporate Marketing Case: Sports Marketing (London Olympics)
2007-2010 Samsung Electronics
– Culture Marketing (French Gastronomy , Chef Marketing)
1997-2003 Samsung Global Strategy Group
– Consulting for Samsung Electronics (Digital Marketing Strategy, Market Driven Strategy, Future Business Road Map Strategy)
Sang-Cheol Jung
Venture Partner
Sang-Cheol Jung, the venture partner, served as an executive director at Samsung Life Insurance.is Jung is currently the CEO of Vivacecne and venture partner of The Invention Lab. Jung’s career backgrounds are as follows.
Major Career Backgrounds
Samsung Life Senior Advisor to President
Samsung Global Strategy Group General Manager
Samsung Life Manager (Asset portfolio management, financial products investment)
2000-2017 Samsung Life
– Asset liability management strategy (2000)
– Database marketing strategy (2002)
– CRM(Client Relationship Management) strategy for SLI (2004)
– New market entry strategy into Southeast Asian Countries (2005)
– Investment performance evaluation system (2008)
– Masterplan for asset management business for SLI (2014)
– M&A opportunities in global asset management industry (2015/16)
– Searching for M&A targets in alternative investment sector (2017)
2003-2009 Samsung Group
– Establishment of global talents training program (2003)
– Overseas market entry strategy for financial affiliate (2004)
– Venture Business Strategy (2005)
– E-business strategy for Samsung Finance Companies (2005)
– Voice recognition technology (2006)
– Benchmarking for Best Practices in Global Hotel Companies
– New business development in Middle East for Samsung Engineering
– New business opportunity in Cruise business for Samsung Heavy Industry
2006/7 Samsung Security
– Global partnership development in investment banking business (2006)
– CRM strategy for Samsung Security (2007)
2003 Samsung Fire & Marine
– Overseas business development strategy in Vietnam and Thailand
Jong-Min Ham
Venture Partner
Jong-Min Ham, venture partner, previously worked at Samsung Electronics, Naver and served as the CTO of LF. Ham is currently serving as the director of AIRI (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute) and has been an individual angel investor. Ham is a financier of our 4th Vietnam New Technology Investment Association and a member of Investment Committee. Ham’s career backgrounds are as follows.
Major Career Backgrounds
Naver VP / Naver Service Officer, Chief of Portal Service Engineering & Technology
2019-Present AIRI
– Developing AI agent service in Insurance and Finance industry
– Developing state of art Vision technology for object and human behavior recognition
– Developing deep learning based motion capture technology for video production industry
2015-2018 LG Fashion
– Developing the mobile commerce system and achieved sales of $ 400 million
2010-2014 Samsung Electronics
– Developing BigData system and dashboard for sales and retail of Samsung
– Design and development of service softwares for smartphone and TV
2006-2010 Naver
– Developing service platform for all NAVER applications
– Designing and developing all portal services of NAVER
2000-2005 Wisepost
– Developing avatar commerce system and providing avatar MSN messenger service with Microsoft
Youngkyung Ko
Venture Partner, SEA Next Unicorn Co-GP
Dr. Ko has served as an assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration(University Tunku Abdul Rahman) and UNITAR International University and has participated in overseas projects with local institutions such as the Malaysian Ministry of Education and the Institute of Governance. her research on capital markets, conglomerates, and startups in Korea and ASEAN has been published in domestic and international journals such as the Journal of Banking and Finance, and he has introduced the ASEAN business environment and corporate cases through various media and lectures, including the “Frontier Markets View” column in “The Bell” and the “ASEAN Corporate Heat War” column in “The Weekly Tendency”. “She has also been delivering global corporate history through ‘Dr. Ko’s Malang Malang Corporate History’ on Sampro TV.
Experiences
Senior Researcher, Social Science Research Center, Seoul National University
Adjunct Professor at Sunway University Business School, Malaysia
Currently a research professor at the ASEAN Center, Hasea Institute, Korea University, and CEO of Asia Biz Lab
Academy Career
B.A. in History, Yonsei University, M.A. in Regional Studies, Dong-A University (Southeast Asia)
Doctor of Business Administration, Korea University (Major in Finance)
Gi-jun Sung
Venture Partner
Mr. Sung is a co-founder of GroundX, Kakao’s blockchain technology affiliate, where he served as the ecosystem team leader of Kakao’s blockchain platform Klaytn and the business development team leader of Klaytn API Service, a blockchain SaaS and digital asset wallet built into KakaoTalk.
Previously, he was the head of investment and acceleration team at Venture Square, and has experience in successful startup investments such as Genome & Company, a KOSDAQ-listed company, and Jarvis & Billions, which operates Samtsumsam. Furthermore, he has expertise in global commercialization of startups through global acceleration in Southeast Asia and North America.
In 2018, he co-founded The Invention Lab’s global acceleration program ‘Rising X’ and co-discovered eight early-stage startups, including OKXE, a Vietnamese motorcycle platform.
Since then, he has been a strategic investor in four private equity funds and has been directly or indirectly involved in executing investments in a total of 16 startups.
Some of the startups that have successfully recovered and grown from their investments include Earthin Company, an alternative meat manufacturing and production startup; Bybi, which operates Reviewty, the No. 1 beauty platform app in Vietnam; and Roche Korea, an on- and offline space operator for seniors.
Experiences
Co-founder (shareholder) and Head of Business Development at Kakao’s blockchain technology affiliate GroundX
Head of Ecosystem Team for blockchain platform ‘Klaytn’
Head of Investment and Acceleration Team at VentureSquare
Academy Career
B.A. in Economics, University of California, Berkeley
OI & Investment Team
Min-su Kim
Diretor
Minsu Kim (Diretor) developed his professional career in the field of business development while working at media startups as project manager for media syndication and platform development projects. Also, he provided consultation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Science and ICT. After joining The Invention Lab, he has been focusing on planning and operating Open Innovation programs.
Bachelor of Business Administration, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Juyong Oh
OI & Investment Team
Associate
Juyong Oh became interested in the entrepreneurial ecosystem through her work as an on-campus journalist, conducting interviews and research on startups.
She completed two startup-related trainings hosted by K-MOOC and obtained certifications in investment management (investment asset manager and accounting) to get a full-fledged introduction to the startup ecosystem.
To understand startup cases, trends, and IT trends, he participates in article studies and analytical studies, and runs a blog to share information and knowledge about the startup ecosystem. Based on this, he served as a project PM for an IT startup club and led the launch of an app service alpha version. Currently, he joined the Open Innovation & Investment Team at The Invention Lab and is in charge of TIPS Coordinator.
Investment Interests : ESG / Fintech / Consumer Tech
Major in Chinese Translation and Interpretation/Economics, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Jae Won Kim
OI & Investment Team
Associate
Jae Won Kim worked as a Market Intelligence & Trend Analyst at Hansol Textile, where he analyzed macro and micro trends in ESG, IT, and consumer lifestyle. He researched new business models in the global fashion market and retail sector, and collaborated with startups in the fashion tech sector to gain exposure to the startup ecosystem.
He then majored in Business Analytics based on data analysis at KAIST MBA program. He studied the media industry along with IT management strategy and participated in user data analysis and digital product improvement projects for startups and legacy media. He also completed the Korea Venture Capital Association’s ‘Cultural Contents Trends and VC Investment Course’ in 2022.
With her interest in ESG and sustainability, she participated in the green energy conversion project of a data center as an RA for the Greenpeace ICT sustainability campaign. For her undergraduate graduation project, she conducted a research on the sustainability of fast fashion and consumer perceptions of sustainable fashion.
Investment Specialties : Fashion & Lifestyle, AI, data, SaaS, ESG, Media & Content
B.A. London College of Fashion
KAIST MBA
OI Management Team
Woonyoung Chung
OI Management Team
Diretor
Woonyoung is an entrepreneur with manufacturing and F&B experience as well as IT experience, having launched, exited, and failed multiple startups.
He started his startup as COO of Waffle service, a global Wi-Fi marketing platform. He has led more than 70 projects in Korea, including large enterprises including the three major telecommunications companies and media companies, as well as overseas local partners in the U.S., Japan, and Vietnam. He then co-founded a startup that provided a global Wi-Fi sharing app service and a live food commerce platform that attracted investments in the U.S. and Korea, but failed. Afterward, he served as the head of strategic planning for a blockchain subsidiary of H Group and was in charge of overall management as COO of a web3 and blockchain-based game company.
In addition, he has participated in coaching, judging, and mentoring at companies, public institutions, and universities, and is growing as an expert who best understands the physiology and environment of startups.
Based on his experience in successful startups, pivots, domestic and overseas investment and government support projects, and various team projects such as B2B and B2C, he joined the OI management team of The Invention Lab and is currently leading the OI program service improvement and operation/management.
Konkuk University (International Trade)
Lee Hyun-kyung
OI Management Team
Associate
Lee Hyun-kyung served as the manager of the Open Innovation (Startup Open Stage Meetup) program at the Seoul Innovation Park, building business cooperation cases between domestic large and medium-sized enterprises and startups. Her major projects include Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, Ottogi, Hyundai Department Store, and LG Electronics CTO division.
She was responsible for planning and operating the work of discovering and connecting startups with innovative technologies such as ESG, eco-friendliness, metaverse, and clean tech with various practical personnel of large and medium-sized enterprises.
In addition to her work in open innovation, she was in charge of the Seoul regional preliminaries of the Challenge! K-Startup 2022 Innovation Startup League (General League), the largest domestic competition.
Before working at the Seoul Innovation Park, she pursued internal research and education business, entrusted cooperative business participation and support, and various projects and research operation experiences related to Southeast Asia at the Migration Policy Research Institute and Dong-A Research Institute. In particular, she has expertise in Southeast Asian regional research at Dong-A Research Institute.
Currently, as a member of the Open Innovation Team at The Invention Lab, she is responsible for the Seed TIPs (Technology Innovation Platform) business coordination, open innovation program operation and management (participation in the GMEP(Global Market Expansion Program)-Vietnam project of the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development), and other open innovation project tasks.
– Areas of Interest – ESG / Clean-Tech, Green-Tech / MetaVerse
– Graduated from the Southeast Asian Studies Cooperative Program at Sogang University’s Graduate School of International Studies.
Jee Yong-Min
OI Management Team
Team Leader
Jee Yong-min served as a PL for open innovation and internal venture programs that build business cooperation cases between large and medium-sized enterprises and startups in Korea at N15 Partners.
His major projects include open innovation with NH NH Bank, Samsung C&T, and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, and internal venture programs with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Hanwha Systems, and Hanwha Insurance, and he was in charge of planning and operating the business of discovering and connecting startups with innovative technologies such as digital, new tech, AI, aerospace, and platforms with various large and medium-sized companies.
He was a member of the early SCM team of a ceremonial liquor company operating mobile laundry ‘Lundrigo’ and has experience in planning the initial collection/delivery system construction, and later gained experience as an entrepreneur through serial startups of household goods manufacturing and e-book subscription services.
Currently, he joined the Open Innovation Team at The Invention Lab, where she is in charge of operating and managing open innovation programs (Samcheonri S-Together, Fine Deal), female venture startup incubation projects, and TIPS.
Graduated from Kyung-gi National University, Department of Sports Management
Startup Companybuilding Team
Jae-min Kang
Vice President, Partner
Vice President/partner, Jae-min Kang, started his career as an engineer at GM Daewoo. He has broadened his understanding of technology, markets and users based on his experience in a variety of industries, from digital products and contents creation, distribution, clothing and to advertising agencies
Based on his career, he focuses on developing BM and service that can maximize differentiated user experience and emotional value, and excels at creating growth indicators for early start-ups, including customer development and refinement of MVP tests. Moreover, he participates in Open Innovation Project of major corporations and leads PoC (Proof Of Concept) tests with the innovation team, start-up team, and the internal business team of the corporations.
He and Jin Young Kim jointly participated in the planning/ development of the ‘business model game’ methodology. He recently developed the lean startup package program, Invention Kit, for in-house ventures and start-up teams’ agile transformation and is expanding its application to large corporate in-house ventures, in-house startup teams, and in-house innovation organizations.
He led large corporate accelerating programs such as Hyundai Mobis M.Start Program and KB Kookmin Card Future9. Kang’s books include ‘Steve Jobs Story Graphics’ (2012, Co-authored by Seok gi Kim) and ‘Business Model Games’ (2013, Co-authored by Jin young Kim).
Graduated from Sungkyunkwan University (Industrial Engineering), SKK GSB (MIT Sloan School) MBA.
Seung-Hee Han
Diretor
Seunghee Han, the team leader, is an expert who understands design, planning and start-ups best.
Han has worked on a number of branding consulting and design projects at branding agencies and UX design start-ups, based on her interest in branding and design thinking. Since then, she has participated in the start-up ecosystem and participated in the discovery and coaching of start-ups, opening of a start-up center, program planning operation and managed domestic start-up investment and Chinese IT trend report at Platum, the largest start-up media in Korea.
Her works include <Domestic Startup Investment Trend Report(2015, 2016, 2017)>, <China BAT Investment Trend Report(2014-5, 2016, 2017)>, <Platum China Report(New distribution, smart car, VR, etc.)>.
After joining The Invention Lab, Han leads the designing of Open Innovation Process and developing communication tools, as well as the design and operation of design thinking programs.
Bachelor of Visual Design, Hongik University
Minjee Ko
Professional
Minjee Ko, She majored in spatial data science within surveying and geospatial information at Yonsei University’s Department of Construction and Environment and conducted research related to smart cities, big data, and artificial intelligence. Her projects include ‘Spatial data analysis for urban, health, and education resilience’, and her papers include ‘Gender spatial analysis in cities using mobile communication-based origin point traffic data’, ‘Analysis of the relationship between air pollution and national disease rates using geographical multiple regression analysis’, and ‘A study on predicting Seoul’s floating population using deep learning techniques’.
Afterward, he worked as a researcher at the Seoul Institute of Technology, where he conducted research for various policy proposals and data generation projects using generative AI services.
Currently, he joined the Venture & Company Building Team at The Invention Lab, where he ran the KT New Business Idea Hackathon program, participated in other internal venture and new business TF fostering projects, planned hackathon programs, and conducted research on domestic and international industries.
Graduated from Yonsei University, Graduate School of Construction and Environmental Engineering
Open Innovation Team - Vietnam Business Part
Vietnam Office
Research Analyst
Ann Ngo has pursued an interest in the startup market ever since she participated in small-sized startup projects and gained several experiences in operating newly opened companies as an assistant.
Realizing the importance of understanding the market including trends, entrepreneurial cases, and insights, she has set a goal to follow her career path in business development and market research to deliver business and investment strategies by partaking in CFA certificates and data analytics courses at the moment together with hands-on experiences through working at The Invention Lab.
She gained experience in trade missions and FDI projects, establishing commercial relationships with partners from America and Canada. Currently, she has joined The Invention Lab (Vietnam Business Part) as a research analyst, being in charge of conducting research about new startup companies in various fields as well as building the database served for analytical purposes.
- Investment interest: EduTech, Tourism, ESG, AI/Machine learning
- Academy – Bachelor in Business English at Ho Chi Minh University of Banking.
Investment Management Team
Sun-mi Park
TeamLeader
Sunmi Park majored in secretarial studies and worked as a secretary supporting management at large corporations. Park gained her experience in manufacturing department of a large corporation, as a member of General Management Team. Park also worked as a secretary at L Company supporting corporate projects. Afterwards, Park acquired professional certificates regarding ERP information administrating, computerized accounting and taxation. Park is currently in charge of organizing Investment Association, enforcing investments on startups and managing various administrative work at The Invention Lab.
Minjung Kim
senior professional
Kim worked in overseas TC(Tour conducter) part for 3 years after graduating from Tourism Management and worked as an overseas IR and forum of Korean venture capital executives. Afterward Kim was recruited to risk team at the venture capital(VC) and responsible for the Korea Fund management as the main coordinator of the venture investee. Currently, The Investment Lab’s investment analysis and management team is mainly responsible for the formation and liquidation of funds, and is also in charge of supporting and post-management of the venture investee, and is trying to support the in startup investment.
Bachelor of Tourism Management, Soongeui Women’sCollege.
Bachelor of Tourism Management, Kyunghee Cyber University.
JaeWon Jung
professional
JaeWon Jung majored in business administration in college.
He was interested in the field of investment, so he obtained a license as an investment asset manager and gained a better understanding of investment while interning at an asset management company.
He gained experience in back-office work and the overall investment process at the investment support team, and gained experience in asset management work by preparing securities reports and investment reports. Since then, he has joined the Investment Analysis Management Team at The Invention Lab, where he is in charge of various administrative and management support tasks required for the formation of investment associations, execution of startup investments, and post-management.
Business Administration, Kangwon National University
Management & Communication Team
Ye-mi Yoo
TeamLeader
Yemi Yoo supports management in OI Advisory Group of The Invention Lab. Yoo became interested in startup ecosystem getting to know entrepreneurs and people from the ecosystem while covering KOICA’s ‘CTS (Creative Technology Solution)’ as an intern journalist of KOICA PR Department. Afterwards, Yoo worked as a manager of Hobbyful, managing ordering, production, and CS and experiencing growth of an early stage startup. With these experiences, Yoo is supporting OI Projects and management at The Invention Lab.
Bachelor of Journalism and Broadcasting, Donga University
We look for people to lead innovation and change within business through Open Innovation.
MVP Build Center
SW, Application
HW, Product+Application
User Testing
Performance Marketing
Startup Back-Up Partners
Legal advice
Advice on Tax / Account
Advice on commercial registration/instrument
Advice on patent application
IR, Startup DB
