01

Stand on the Larger Stage as Research Institute Company

GridaEnergy is a joint venture research institute company established by Destin Power, a power converter manufacturer, and ETRI Holdings. Destin Power is a leading PCS manufacturer in the domestic market. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the renewable energy sector is where convergence between manufacturing and ICT is most urgently needed, because, in this era, it is challenging for a company to maintain its initiative in the market solely by relying on hardware technology. In response, Destin Power has come up with a strategy of making its PCS products smart by tapping into ETRI’s cutting-edge ICT solutions. First, both sides sat at the table discussing issues, such as typical licensing methods, but before long their discussion shifted toward higher levels of cooperation. They reached a consensus that proactively exploring new businesses and entering foreign markets would require something more than technology transfer. They concluded that the best way to do so would be establishing a research institute company capable of bringing together corporate experience and know-how with public-sector technology as one, thereby creating greater synergy. Here, Destin Power and ETRI were not the only entities involved in this ambitious mission. It was not an easy decision to make for Soek Jeon, who participated in the establishment as an outside planner and has now become the CEO of the company. It required a great deal of courage on his part to take on this challenge. To an ICT expert like him, renewable energy just felt like somewhere he had never set foot.

02

Convergence Shift:
from Engineering+Art to IT+Energy

Mr. Jeon is a computer engineer, but his career path differs from that of typical engineers. He established a start-up named Rinsoft in 2010 aiming to create digital content using computer graphics technology, such as projection mapping. In the meantime, he also devoted himself to teaching students and researching as an adjunct professor in the field of digital content creation and marketing strategies for commercialization of created digital content. To be sure, it was not an easy task to converge two largely different disciplines: art and engineering. Both parts have different mindsets and use different languages. Sometimes the gap was too wide for them even to initiate a conversation in the first place. His job was to help them come to terms with one another and thereby advance toward their common goal, where he used his interest and knowledge of both engineering and art in the best possible way. He continued to persuade both sides and provide motivation for cooperation with patience, and these efforts eventually led to the creation of unique media art projects and a variety of first-hand-experience-based media content, which caught the eye of the global stage. Subsequently, once again, things started to unfold in an unexpected manner, thanks to his nature. That is, he participated in the establishment of GridaEnergy, and his curiosity led him to explore this new field, renewable energy, more and more. He fully devoted himself to collecting data and analyzing the market to create a new ground for the convergence of renewable energy and ICT. After many days of continuous effort, one day he found himself in a cockpit of a huge vessel, steering its to the destination.