Future industries require diverse value chains. However, companies often find little need or opportunity to directly operate these businesses themselves. This insight comes from Noh Gyu-seung, head of the ZER01NE division at Hyundai Motor Group’s Future Strategy Headquarters. ZER01NE is an open innovation platform established by Hyundai Motor Group.
In a written interview with News1 on June 28, Noh explained that many major corporations are focusing on internal ventures as a strategy to actively leverage their intellectual property (IP) for new business development. He added that European companies like Bosch and Lufthansa have also been proactive in this approach.
Noh emphasized that Hyundai Motor Group is actively pursuing new ventures in various fields, including mobility, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), smart factories, smart cities, hydrogen, and energy. He noted that the group has been engaged in genuine open innovation activities for nearly a decade.
ZER01NE: Hyundai Motor Group’s Asset in Open Innovation
ZER01NE, established by Hyundai Motor Group in 2018, is an open innovation platform focused on nurturing creative talent. It began as the ZER01NE Accelerator, designed to discover and invest in promising external startups while providing strategic collaboration opportunities with the group’s operational departments.
In 2021, ZER01NE expanded its operations by launching the ZER01NE Company Builder to support internal startups for employees. This initiative incorporated Venture Plaza, Hyundai Motor Group’s first internal startup support project that began in 2000, leading to a more systematic approach to internal ventures.
Noh explained that the program is designed to allow both domestic and international startups, as well as Hyundai Motor Group employees, to share innovative ideas and technologies to solve problems. It discovers and invest in external startups, promote practical collaborations with the group’s departments, and support the growth of employees’ ideas into independent ventures.
Noh joined Hyundai Motor as a research scholar in 2006. After spending over a decade handling patent and licensing work at the research center, he took on corporate venture capital (CVC) strategic investment responsibilities in 2017.
His involvement with ZER01NE began in 2019, a year after its launch. Initially joining as the team leader, Noh now oversees all open innovation activities, including nurturing creators, supporting internal ventures, investing in external startups, validating ideas (PoC), and managing the overseas open innovation office CRADLE.
ZER01NE’s Impact: From GV60’s Facial Recognition to Kona’s Air Purification
When external startups are selected for the ZER01NE Accelerator, they gain opportunities to collaborate with Hyundai Motor Group’s operational departments. This collaboration can lead to the integration of startup technologies into the group’s production vehicles.
A prime example is the facial recognition technology first adopted in the 2021 Genesis GV60, allowing users to lock and unlock vehicle doors using facial recognition alone. Noh explained that this was the successful outcome of a proof of concept (PoC) conducted with DeepInsight, an AI-based three-dimensional (3D) sensing solution startup, through the ZER01NE Accelerator.
Internal employees can also venture into startups through the ZER01NE Company Builder. Selected teams can receive up to 300 million KRW (approximately 225,000 USD) for development costs. After a year of product and service development and commercialization, they decide with the company whether to spin off as an independent entity or commercialize internally.
The eco-friendly air purification technology, which combines bio and automotive air conditioning technology, is another product of ZER01NE Company Builder activities. The internal startup M-Biom developed this microbiome technology by analyzing over 4,000 types of microorganisms in vehicle air conditioning systems. Noh stated that this technology has been applied to all Hyundai vehicles, starting with the 2023 Hyundai Kona.
To date, 117 external startups have received equity investments through the ZER01NE Accelerator, and 44 internal startups have gained independence through the ZER01NE Company Builder.
Reflecting on his experience, Noh remarked that he fondly remembers the teams it invested in and worked with when the ZER01NE platform was just starting. It has a particular affection for CloBot (a robot control solution company) and MakinaRocks (physical AI), which have already gone public, and Mobiltech (digital twin), which is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO).
