[CEO Story] Professor-led Startups? Why Not?<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

SNU Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Prof. Heui Jae Pahk, CEO of SNU Precision

First decided to start-up during IMF financial crisis.

By then start-up by a professor was illegal; 

Visited and appealed to the Congress for the legalization.

After one and a half year, finally legalized professor start-up.

Professor start-up has continued since then.

Prof. Heui Jae Pahk, SNU Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

[Kyung-rae Kang, E-daily] Professor Heui Jae Pahk of SNU Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering has performed a lot of firsts. He is the founder of SNU Precision, the first venture company from SNU labs. He is also the first ‘professor-CEO’ in the country.

Prof. Pahk received his Bachelor’s and Master’s at SNU and went on to receive his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester, under a national scholarship from the Korean government. After teaching at POSTECH, he became a professor at SNU Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. While leading a stable teaching career, he encountered IMF financial crisis in the end of 1997, which marks a crucial turning point in his life. 

Since he had studied abroad with the aid of national scholarship, he always thought that he should contribute to the country when in difficult situation. Eventually, in February of 1998, he decided to fulfill his previous resolution and started up SNU business in the laboratory of Seoul National University with his students to contribute to the national economy. He recalls that he started the business with the attitude of “raising an army in the cause of justice.” He began localizing the products such as display inspection equipment, which used to be imported from places like Japan.

Nevertheless, soon he was confronted with an unexpected problem. By then, professors were not allowed to start up business by law because a start-up by professor was against one of the articles in Public Educational Officials Act, which prohibits professors seeking after individual benefits. CEO Pahk, who all of a sudden became a lawbreaker, decided to “adjust such unreasonable law.” He visited the Office of the Prime Minister, the Congress, the Small and Medium Business Administration (current Ministry of SMEs and Startups), etc. and appealed to the legitimacy of professor start-up. After one and a half year of such effort, in 1999, ‘the Special Measures for Venture Business Raising‘ included an article that allows professors to run a business. Finally, the gate for professor start-up has opened.

After legalization, professor-entrepreneurs continue to emerge; for instance, Prof. Young-Chul Sung (Professor at POSTECH and CTO of Genexine, Ltd.), Prof. Hyoung-June Kim (Professor at Hongik University and CEO of Viatron), Prof. Geun Sig Cha (Professor at Kwangwoon University and CEO of i-SENS, Inc.), Prof. Soo Youn Kim (Professor at Dongguk University and CEO of PCL, Inc.), etc. CEO Pahk, the ‘father’ of professor start-up, since then raised SNU as a global corporation of display equipment. Its total sales reached up to 116.2 billion won in 2017 through trades with notable corporations such as LG Display.

In the end of 2016, Prof. Pahk sold SNU to SFA(056190) and stopped his career as an entrepreneur. He sold his stock holdings at the price 10% lower than the stock price and did not even receive the leadership premium which generally accounts for 20-30% of total sales amount. Prof. Pahk explains his reason for the company sale as to “make the company competitive enough to compete with rival companies of Japan in global OLED market by collaborating with SFA.” 

Meanwhile, Prof. Pahk has continued variety of careers including not only his teaching career but also careers as director of R&D Strategy Planning in Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, chairman of the board in Youth Hope Foundation, and so on. Now, he serves as a president of KAITS (Korean Association for Industrial Technology Security). Recently he has been nominated as a candidate for nonexecutive director of POSCO.
Link to article http://www.edaily.co.kr/news/read?newsId=01207046622393472