Hyundai invites start-ups for 2022 innovation accelerator program

Hyundai Motor Group has announced its 2022 second half ZER01NE Accelerator program, an open innovation platform to facilitate collaboration between start-ups and Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation on various projects.

This program aims to discover valuable start-ups and explore the possibilities of strategic use of their innovative technologies.

Start-ups can apply to one of 20 projects derived by the Group’s internal teams under six key themes: energy, mobility, logistics, construction, smart factory, and materials. Each start-up is limited to one specific project.

The Group’s organisations that are responsible for technology developments are directly involved in reviewing and recruiting the applicants for each project. Only registered corporations will be eligible for consideration and can submit their application on the official application website from July 7–July 29. Results will be announced in September.

Selected start-ups will be provided with a project development budget and could be evaluated for equity investments.

Since the Group introduced the ZER01NE Accelerator in 2018, 125 teams from 11 affiliates of the Group and 115 start-ups have worked together on 97 collaborative projects. This has led to 54 start-ups successfully receiving equity investments from the Group.