"Professors should be thees tackling difficulties with labs startups"

SNU Prof. Frank Chongwoo Park, CEO of AI startup ‘Saige Research’
From inviting investments to business development

Difficulties of beginning startups

Spreading recognition via networking

“Launching Startups in Production Automation

Offering Diverse Opportunities for Students”

Prof. Frank Chongwoo Park (left) of SNU Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with Prof. Zexiang Li of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, co-founder of DJI. /Photo from=Prof. Frank Chongwoo Park

“In the beginning, startup companies are bound to face difficulties, such as inviting investments and developing business, which is why the professor’s role is important.”


During an email interview with Seoul Economic Daily, Professor Frank Chongwoo Park of Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Seoul National University, CEO of AI vision startup ‘Saige Research,’ explained. “I wish to develop the company into a global AI-based machine vision company.”



Prof. Park, currently conducting research at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, is a world-renowned scholar in the field of robotics. Last year, he was elected as the 24^th President of the Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the first Asian scholar to reach the position. IEEE RAS, as the top academic society in robotics, selects the best scholars as their president.



Prof. Park founded Saige Research in 2016 with graduate students from SNU College of Engineering. He was inspired by the success of Prof. Zexiang Li of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, with whom he studied at MIT as a graduate student. Prof. Li is the co-founder of DJI, the biggest company in the drone market; his student, Frank Wang, is the CEO of the company. Prof. Li worked as a consultant and investment advisor when the company was starting out, developing DJI into a global company.



“Prof. Li is an expert of laboratory start-ups, launching numerous companies along with his students,” explained Prof. Park. “His words of encouragement and advice have been critical in my own decision to launch the company.”



Particularly, Prof. Park focused the role of the professor after the launch. Startup companies, especially lab startups, often face difficulties because they lack experience in attracting investments or developing business. The presence of a professor, who is well-known in academia with plenty of networks, can be of great help. Saige Research was able to gain recognition and invite excellent researchers thanks to Prof. Park’s help. The level of technology of the AI-based machine vision was also elevated. It has improved the accuracy and speed of detecting faulty products, using virtual fault data even without actual product data.



“If the factory is sufficiently automated, there is plenty of data accumulated its products. But this is not as common as we think,” said Prof. Park. “We developed our own fault data generation technology to deal with this problem, suitable for manufacturing data.”



Recently, it has been supplying software to rechargeable battery companies in Korea. It has also received series A funding from several venture capital firms including Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Korea Investment Partners, doubling its efforts for technology development.



Prof. Park, who wishes to “help develop the capabilities of competent students,” plans to offer more diverse opportunities for students by launching more lab startups. “If there is another opportunity to launch a startup with students, I want to work a new type of technology combining AI with collaborative robots.”



/Ho-hyeon Park greenlight@sedaily.com 

Link to article : https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1ZAGWZH84N