Jungmok Seo, CEO of LynkSolutec (pictured right), poses for a commemorative photo with Ki-yong Song, Managing Director of Moneytoday, after receiving the ‘R&D Innovation Grand Prize’ in the ‘Medical Device Coating Technology’ category at the ‘2024 10th Korea Business Awards’ ceremony hosted by Money Today. The event was held at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 20th.

LynkSolutec is a startup that developed ‘Lynk Coating,’ a medical coating technology that addresses complications such as infection, inflammation, and thrombosis during surgery. The company is a spin-off from Yonsei University’s BioLogical Interfaces and Sensor Systems Laboratory. A company representative stated, “We won two Innovation Awards at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES),” adding, “We will present a new paradigm that minimizes side effects of implantable medical devices.”

Lynk Solutec, a medical device surface coating company led by CEO Jungmok Seo, announced on the 17th that it has recently obtained a patent for an ‘endoscope coating.’

The official title of this patent is ‘Coating Composition for Endoscope Protection.’ This coating composition, when applied to an endoscope, prevents the adhesion of biological substances like blood and fogging. It can protect the surface of the endoscope’s distal end, such as the lens and cap, in the form of a coating or film.

Endoscopes are medical instruments used with cameras to observe and diagnose the inside of a patient’s body before, during, and after surgery in various medical fields. The company emphasized, “Maintaining a clear view during endoscopic procedures is directly linked to the success of the surgery, which makes continuous research and improvement essential.” They further explained, “Currently, doctors must manually clean the lenses or frequently apply anti-fog agents. This process extends surgery time by approximately 20%, increasing medical staff fatigue and the risk of patient infection during endoscope re-insertion.”

Jungmok Seo, CEO of Lynk Solutec, said, “This patented technology is a special coating that fundamentally prevents the adhesion of blood, moisture, mucus, and bacteria. By applying a coating layer on the endoscope cap or distal end, it ensures a clearer view.” He added, “We expect this technology to be widely applicable in various endoscopic fields, including gastrointestinal endoscopy, laparoscopy, bronchoscopy, and surgical robots.”

Lynk Solutec is a spin-off from BioLogical Interface and Sensor System Lab at Yonsei University. The company has developed medical coating technology called ‘Lynk Coating,’ which addresses complications such as infections, inflammation, and thrombus formation during surgery. With this technology, they have introduced innovative medical devices, including endoscope caps that help secure visibility during endoscopic surgeries and ureteral stents that prevent calcification.

• Mayor Oh Se-hoon attends the opening ceremony of CES 2024 at the Seoul Pavilion, promoting business for innovative enterprises
• Participation by 81 Seoul-based startups at Eureka Park for expansion into overseas markets

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced that Mayor Oh Se-hoon attended the opening ceremony of CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tue, Jan. 9 at 11 AM local time. Mayor Oh Se-hoon took part in networking with global enterprises, startups, governments and IT experts from countries around the world while promoting Seoul-based enterprises and Seoul’s competitiveness as a smart city on the world stage.

At the Seoul Pavilion at CES 2024, the 670 m2 Eureka Park startup exhibition space featured 81 Seoul-based startups and 13 institutions, such as the Seoul Biohub and the Seoul AI Hub presenting their innovative technologies and products to global investors.

In particular, among the 81 participating enterprises in the Seoul Pavilion, 18 won the CES 2024 Innovation Award—Top Table (innovative individualized nutritional kit) and Lordsystem (mobile passport platform) were among the 1% of participating enterprises to receive the “Best of Innovation” Innovation Awards.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, “The Seoul Pavilion at CES 2024 showcased some of the best Seoul-based enterprises, among which 18 won the CES Innovation Award, which will assist their high-speed growth. I sincerely hope that the futures of the Korean enterprises that participated in CES are as bright as the Seoul Color (Sky Coral) that adorned this year’s Seoul Pavilion.

CES 2024 Innovation Award-winning enterprises (Seoul Pavilion)

No.	Enterprise	Category	Technology	Image	Municipal support	Award
1	DNA Corporation	Healthcare	Genetic analysis technology-based solution		Startup Hub M+ residency (2021–)	“Honoree” (1 item)
2	Top Table, Inc.	Healthcare	Innovative Individualized Nutritional Kit (IINK) 4D food printing		Testbed Seoul (2022) Startup Hub M+ residency (2022–)	“Best of Innovation” & “Honoree” (2 items)
3	Solive Ventures	Healthcare	Sensory toy for children with autism		–	“Honoree” (2 items)
4	MetaImmuneTeach Inc	Healthcare	In vitro immunity diagnostic device		–	“Honoree” (1 item)
5	mpWAV Inc.	Healthcare	Hearing aid for smartphones and earphones		–	“Honoree” (1 item)
6	Lynk Solutec Inc.	Healthcare	Disposable endoscope cap		–	“Honoree” (2 items)
7	Phantomics	Healthcare	Heart MRI video analysis software treatment device		Hi-Seoul Enterprise (2023)	“Honoree” (1 item)
8	Barunbio Inc.	Healthcare	Micro-electro stimulus healthcare solution		R&D (2021, 2022)	“Honoree” (1 item)
9	PLCOSKIN Co., Ltd.	Healthcare	Advanced regenerative treatment device, structural regeneration platform		R&D (2022) Future Innovation Growth Fund (2023)	“Honoree” (1 item)
10	HUROTICS Inc.	Healthcare	Robotic suit for strengthening lower body muscle for rehabilitation purposes and professional athletes		–	“Honoree” (1 item)
11	Ruahlab Inc.	Healthcare	Wearable sleep monitoring system Apnea care device		–	“Honoree” (1 item)
12	Lordsystem Co.	Data/AI	Mobile passport ID authentication-based online-to-offline (O2O) tourism and financial platform		Testbed Seoul (2020) Hi-Seoul Enterprise (2023–)	“Best of Innovation” & “Honoree” (2 items)
13	Onoma AI	Data/AI	AI character-generating platform for webtoon creation		–	“Honoree” (1 item)
14	Nation-A Inc.	Data/AI	3D character modeling and animation-generating solution		–	“Honoree” (2 items)
15	Mirrorroid Inc.	IoT	Removeable smart mirror beauty solution		R&D (2020) Overseas exhibition participant (2023) Startup Hub M+ residency (2022–)	“Honoree” (1 item)
16	PABLO AIR Co., Ltd.	Mobility	Drones for art show use, UAM traffic control system		Startup Hub M+ residency (2022–) Hi-Seoul Enterprise (2023–)	“Honoree” (1 item)
17	QSimPlus Co., Ltd	Quantum computing	Portable robotic specialized network for short-range quantum communication		–	“Honoree” (1 item)
18	SQK Inc.	Quantum computing	Next generation quantum computer equipped with quantum computing software accelerator		–	“Honoree” (1 item)

The largest number of domestic ventures and startups that won the Innovation Award at CES 2024 held in Las Vegas from the 9th to the 12th were counted as 116, the largest ever. In particular, domestic startups are drawing attention by sweeping innovation awards in the “Human Security for All (HS4A)” field, a key theme of CES.

The U.S. Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which is responsible for the CES, has selected human security as an important topic at this year’s CES as well as last year. Human security is a concept in which dignity and peace are protected only when human life is enriched in various ways such as △ food △ medical care △ environment △ safety.

Although some pointed out that it does not match CES, a high-tech exhibition hall, human security is drawing attention as an important pillar of the future industry after the CTA embodied it as a concept suitable for CES, saying, “It is solving problems with high-tech technology in terms of sustainability.”

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the CTA on the 7th, 313 companies (379 products) around the world received the CES 2024 Innovation Award in 28 fields, including artificial intelligence (AI), digital health, smart city, and robotics, as of the 4th. Among them, 134 Korean companies (158 products), including large and medium-sized ones, accounted for 42.8 percent of the total. The number of award-winning companies is expected to increase further as additional announcements are still to be made.

Among the domestic companies that received the Innovation Award, 116 ventures and startups were awarded last year (111). The number of ventures and startups that received the Best Innovation Award also increased from five last year to seven this year.

In particular, a total of 16 companies were listed in the field of human security among the innovation awards, and as many as 12 companies (75%) were found to be domestic startups. The CES Innovation Award is an award given to products with excellent technology and innovation among products submitted at CES.

LynkSolutec, a medical device manufacturer using nanotechnology, has developed a special coating technology that can prevent blood adhering or fogging to endoscopic lenses, obstructing a doctor’s vision. According to the CTA, this can improve surgical safety and the accuracy of patient treatment.

“At this year’s CES, the concept of human security that solves global problems with technology will become important in terms of sustainability,” CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said. “I believe that many human and human security issues can be solved with technology. Technology can be a solution for innovation.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to increase support, saying that 91 (78.4%) out of 116 ventures and startups that won the Innovation Award participated in start-up support projects such as “TIPS,” a private investment-led technology development support project, and commercialization support.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, “Our venture and start-up were able to achieve the highest performance ever at CES 2024 because of the company’s innovative efforts and government support,” adding, “We will support domestic start-ups to show excellent technology and innovation capabilities around the world and create new business opportunities overseas through CES.”

Clear Endo Vision, developed by medical device company LynkSolutec has been won for two categories (Digital Health and Product in support of Human Security) of the 2024 CES Innovation Awards.

CES is the world’s largest IT and electronic fair organized by the American Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and is held in Las Vegas early every year to award innovation awards to next-generation products that will lead the world’s technology.

The product that won two awards at CES is an endoscopic cap that provides a clean view through nanotechnology. The problem of obstructing the view due to fogging and bleeding during the endoscopy is a chronic problem that the medical community has experienced for a long time. To solve this problem, the doctor must wash the lens himself or apply anti-fog agents in short cycles, which increased the operation time by 20%, increasing the fatigue of the medical staff, and there was always an invisible risk of infection and inflammation in the patient.

Lynk Solutec solved the above problem by using its own “Medical Device Surface Coating Technology” called “Lynk Coating”. Since a special coating layer is formed on the surface of the Clear Endo Vision, it is the principle that water, mucus, and bacteria, including blood, are not fundamentally attached. It was won as an innovation award in recognition of its cost-effectiveness and improvement in medical standards in creating a safer surgical environment at a lower cost instead of expensive cleaning equipment.

링크솔루텍이 개발한 Lynk Coating이 적용된 내시경 캡

Seo Jungmok, CEO of Lynk Solutec said, “We want to continue to develop products that prevent medical side effects that occur frequently in medical sites but have no way to prevent them so far, and serve as a stepping stone to connect medical sites and patients. We will solve more side effects in the medical field by launching ophthalmic filaments and fistulas, urinary tract catheters and stents, and medical tubing.”

The endoscope cap will be introduced for the first time at the booth of the CES Eureka Park Seoul Hall in January next year.