*This content was translated by AI.
Solum (CEO Jeon Seong-ho), a global electronic price display (ESL) company, has been selected as a performance company of the "2025 Open Innovation Program" by the Seoul Economic Promotion Agency (SBA).
Solum has held meetings with more than 100 startups through the SBA program, of which 10 companies and proof of concept (PoC) have succeeded in practical technology collaboration with the final five startups. This achievement proves that SoluM is transitioning from a simple ESL hardware manufacturer to a retail solution platform company based on the "SSP (SoluM Solution Platform).
Unlike large corporations' startup support, which is often limited to one-time investments or mentoring, Solum is evaluated as differentiated in that it has been verified step by step and continued to practical technology collaboration.
Representatively, the collaboration between Solum and Ezwimake took place under the clear goal of "digitalization of food ingredients marts." A real-time price change system was established by combining Solum's ESL technology and Ezwimake's e-commerce solution at Wang Mart in Hongseong, Chungcheongnam-do.
SoloM's ESL can change the price in real time. In addition, Ezwimake's e-commerce solution is combined to enable automatic price adjustment considering inventory quantity, expiration date, and demand by time zone. Products with an imminent expiration date are automatically sold by lowering their prices, and popular products adjust their prices according to demand. The "dynamic pricing," which was only possible on air tickets or hotels, was implemented at a local mart.
As a result, store operational efficiency has increased, and a new market called Data-Based Retail Media Network (RMN) has opened in the process of sending event notifications to customer smartphones.
The collaboration with Seedn focused on "sustainable technology." AI has integrated Seed &'s cooling and heating optimization technology into Solum's store management platform, which adjusts temperature and saves energy according to store conditions.
"By combining Solum's infrastructure and Seedn's algorithm, we have created an ESG management model that reduces carbon emissions and reduces operating costs," a Solum official said. "This has become a decisive card to meet ESG requirements that global customers value."
Solum's open innovation strategy is in line with the company's fundamental business transformation. Solum, which was spun off from Samsung Electro-Mechanics in 2015 and listed on the KOSPI in 2021, is currently the second-largest company in the global ESL market (based on share), supplying 350 million ESLs to more than 50,000 stores worldwide.
However, the ESL market is in fierce competition for hardware specifications. SoluM's breakthrough is the "SSP (SoluM Solution Platform)." The strategy is not just to sell ESL hardware, but to integrate software technologies of various startups to provide customized digital transformation (DX) solutions to customers.
The collaboration with Ezwimake is representative. With the combination of software called dynamic pricing with hardware called ESL, it has evolved into a 'profit optimization solution' beyond simple price display.
The difference between SoloM is that it does not end at PoC. Through the SBA program, we secured the necessary funds for PoC and actively collaborated with startups. If it is determined that there is a possibility of collaboration, it will even proceed with equity investment.
It is helping startups grow from various angles by providing opportunities to participate in overseas exhibitions, supporting overseas market PoC, and recommending fund managers. It is also an extension of this collaboration that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups recently developed "TJ Labs" and smart retail solutions to win the grand prize.
A Solum official said, "Start-up is the most powerful 'innovation engine' that puts our technology in the field. We will completely change the DX paradigm of the global retail market through SSP completed through collaboration."
Solum's open innovation is expected to accelerate further this year. In 2026, it will focus on the retail market but expand the scope of collaboration to the global market. It also plans to expand its application to automobiles, data centers, healthcare, and beauty.
These movements are not exclusive to Solum. The 2025 SBA Performance Casebook vividly captures the "symbiosis model" in which large companies and startups grow by filling each other's shortcomings. Analysts say Solum's open innovation has become a corporate DNA, not a one-time event.
Global market research companies predict that the ESL market will grow to $12 billion (about 16 trillion won) by 2030. The market is paying attention to how Solum's "win-win model," which combines the stable infrastructure of giant companies and the agile innovation engine of startups, will bear greater fruits in the future.
<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>
*This content was translated by AI.
