D.Camp, a startup growth partner, said on Tuesday it completed the final private pitching for 'Startup OI Kyoto #DeepTech' with Korea Murata Electronics, the South Korean unit of global electronic components company Murata Manufacturing.

'Startup OI Kyoto #DeepTech' is an open innovation (OI) programme run by D.Camp to support entry into Japan. It was created to identify opportunities for technology collaboration and commercialisation between South Korean deep tech startups and large Japanese companies.

D.Camp said about 20 people attended the private pitch held on Sept. 16 at D.Camp Seolleung, including three judges who were engineers and new business officials from Murata Manufacturing's headquarters in Japan and Korea Murata Electronics. Participating startups proposed their technology competitiveness and collaboration plans. The judging panel selected top companies after assessing technology fit, commercialisation potential and feasibility of pursuing proof of concept (PoC), among other factors.

Nine deep tech startups participated in the programme: NanoLambda Korea, Nubinda, Rehigh, Lfease Robotics, Viewrun Technology, Oceans Bio, JJNS, Ginolab and Tacrobot. The judges selected kitchen automation robotics startup Lfease Robotics and epilepsy treatment electroceutical developer Oceans Bio as joint top companies.

Lfease Robotics received high marks for proposing a collaboration model that uses Murata's ultra-precision inertial measurement unit (IMU) to improve the accuracy of a behaviour data collection device for robot AI training. D.Camp said Oceans Bio presented a wearable healthcare collaboration model that combines its AI prediction technology as a new business in Murata's wellness area, and was recognised for technology competitiveness and commercialisation potential.

D.Camp and Korea Murata Electronics plan to continue follow-up technology reviews based on the private pitch results. They also plan to consider various follow-up cooperation measures for the selected companies, including PoC, technology transfer, licensing and joint commercialisation.