Micro Systems, Growth with Government Support Leads to Investment Attraction and CES Innovation Award
[Seoul=Newsis] Reporter Yun Hyun-sung = A domestic tech startup, which faced difficulties in business due to lack of market validation despite developing the world’s first innovative technology, has achieved globally recognized success through government support. By supplying products to public institutions under government support, the company built market competitiveness and later received recognition for its technological capabilities by winning the CES Innovation Award five years in a row at the world’s largest electronics exhibition.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 19th that Micro Systems, which grew through systematic government support, has become a representative success case of expanding public research outcomes through innovative procurement and market entry.
Micro Systems successfully developed the world’s first electronic microfluidic control technology that can effectively remove contaminants such as raindrops, frost, and dust from camera lenses in various harsh weather conditions without additional mechanical external cleaning devices. However, the B2B market and global big tech companies lacked trust in this unfamiliar technology with no market validation, posing challenges in market penetration.
Despite this, Micro Systems focused on enhancing its proprietary technology and developing finished products by participating in government support programs rather than seeking short-term revenue through the transfer of key technologies. Ultimately, it was recognized for its innovativeness by being designated as an ‘Excellent R&D Innovation Product’ by the Ministry of Science and ICT in 2021, obtaining National New Product (NEP) certification in 2022, and being selected for the procurement agency’s pilot purchase program in 2023. This led to systematic performance verification in public markets, gradually paving the way for the B2G market.
Subsequently, Micro Systems achieved a supply performance totaling 230 million won to national universities and local public demand institutions. The company continued to enhance the technical completeness and competitiveness of its products to meet the performance and standards required by actual demand sites based on the empirical information of purchasing and using institutions. The government acted as a catalyst in gaining the industry’s trust.
Additionally, Micro Systems secured a total investment of 1.7 billion won, encompassing both public and private sectors, laying the groundwork for global market entry. Furthermore, it became the first domestic deep-tech startup to win the CES Innovation Award five years in a row, showcasing its technological prowess to the world.
Currently, Micro Systems’ products and electronic self-cleaning technologies are widely used in critical national infrastructure and public institution real-time CCTV systems that require high reliability, beyond applications in ships and port sites, including in traffic control, crime prevention, and defense surveillance systems. The company continues to strive for expansion into fields such as pollution prevention technologies for autonomous vehicle optical sensors and robot perception sensors.
CEO Jung Sang-guk of Micro Systems stated, “The designation of innovative products allowed us to break into the early market, leading to successive achievements. We will focus on establishing a stable growth foundation through the establishment of overseas subsidiaries and accelerating the development and market expansion of innovative products for the smart city industry.”
Lee Eun-young, Director of Research Outcome Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, remarked, “Micro Systems is a representative success story of systematic government support facilitating the spread of excellent R&D outcomes from original technology development to innovative product designation and innovation procurement business connections into market and industrial achievements. We will continue to strengthen support to ensure more public research outcomes successfully settle in the market.”