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)
Hansoo Lee
Venture Partner
Mr. Lee has been involved in venture activities since he was a student, serving as the first president of the National Student Venture Association, and is a member of the first generation of student ventures that created an entrepreneurship boom in university towns, including being selected as the first startup club by the Small and Medium Business Administration. While a student at KAIST, he participated in the establishment of Facebook, and later founded Eastop and Ivy Farm, which attracted investment from major US and Korean VCs, and Ivy Farm was selected as the first overseas incubation organization by the SMBA.
In 2017, Mr. Lee founded Ritalco, a company that invests in domestic startups as a company builder and accelerator, and has made early investments in Colosseum, Medistaff, Golara, AgendaBook, and Clion, among others.
He is the head of the GCM business unit at SDX Foundation, which supports private sector-led carbon reduction, and the chairman of the startup venture committee at the Korea IT Service Society and the Korea Society for Intelligent Information Systems, where he plays a role in supporting startup discovery investments.
Experiences
Venture & Startup Specialized Chairman, Korea IT Service Society
Venture & Startup Chair, Korea Intelligent Information Systems Society
Startup Chairman, Korea Data Strategy Society
Head of GCM Business Unit, Carbon Reduction Council
Director of KSVF (Korea-Stanford Venture Forum)
Academy Career
Stanford University SEIT Course (sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Communication)
KAIST Management Engineering
Open Innovation Team - Corporate OI & Investment Division
Min-su Kim
TeamLeader
Minsu Kim (TeamLeader) 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
Open Innovation Team, Corporate OI & Investment Division
Business Analyst
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
Jisoo Kim
Open Innovation Team, Corporate OI & Investment Division
Business Analyst
Jisoo Kim planned a service for “display-only notification board for academic information on campus” through an on-campus entrepreneurship club, and later entered the full-scale entrepreneurship ecosystem as a co-founder of Today’s Story.
Ltd. is an offline DOOH targeted media platform that aims to increase the efficiency of offline advertising and analyze CPA through the digitization of media, and has been operating the overall team for the past five years to achieve the mission of lowering the barriers to the offline advertising market so that various users can advertise reasonably easily.
In the team, he has been mainly in charge of general PM and operation of B2G consortium project and B2B partnership alliance business, and successfully attracted seed investment from Yoon Minchang Creative Investment Foundation in 20 and Picnic in 21.
Investment Interests : B2B SaaS / Distribution & Logistics / Lifestyle / ESG
Graduated from Korea Institute of Technology, IT Management
Jae Won Kim
Open Innovation Team, Corporate OI & Investment Division
Business Analyst
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
Yeare Kim
Open Innovation Team – Corporate OI & Investment Division
Business Analyst
Starting with the NGRS (National Green Report) DB establishment project for the Sri Lanka Ministry of Environment while working at KOICA, Yeare Kim(Bella), a professional business analyst, took the role of business development PM for a social venture project to improve the income structure of Tanzania. Afterwards, she worked as a co-founder/COO at Waddle Co., Ltd., which operates an AI-based E-commerce platform for the visually impaired and secured Pre-A investment from companies such as 11th Street, Bonangels, and The Invention Lab. While being responsible for building startups at the seed stage post pivot, she led the initial settings such as operational systemization, TIPS and initial startup package selection.
In the past, she planned and executed start up incubation and fostering projects at the Social Economy Support Center of the Suwon Sustainable City Foundation and managed start-up foundation establishment projects of Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) such as Biz School overseas camps and awarding of young entrepreneurs at Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation (KoEF).
She is currently majoring in Strategic Management via an integrated master’s and doctorial course and performing research on Alliance Capabilities and Cross-Sector Partnerships(CSP/XSP).
– Areas of Interest : ICT service / Digital Healthcare / Blockchain / Social Impact
– B.A in Business Administration & Economics, Catholic University of Korea
– Ph.D. in Business Administration (Expected), Catholic University of Korea
Lee Hyun-kyung
Open Innovation Team, Corporate OI & Investment Division
Business Analyst
Researcher 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.
Open Innovation Team- Startup Company building Division
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
Innovation Design Team Leader
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
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
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.
Sun-mi Park
senior professional
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.
Seungjun Park
Investment Analytics Management Team
Senior
Mr. Park majored in accounting, taxation, and information in college, and after graduation, he worked at IDG Capital, a Chinese VC, where he was in charge of investment proposals, formation of investment funds, investment execution, and post-management. He was also responsible for researching overseas and domestic companies. He then moved to CKD Venture Capital, where he was in charge of managing parent funds, agricultural funds, and LPs, as well as investment proposals, investment execution, and post-management.
At The Invention Lab, he is in charge of the liquidation and distribution of cooperatives, the formation of new investment cooperatives, and the post-management of investee companies.
B.A. in Accounting, Taxation, and Informatics, Woongji Tax University
Management & Communication Team
Ye-mi Yoo
senior professional
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
