The Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation (Gyeonggi CCEI, CEO Kim Won-kyung) operated the 2025 Startup Leap Package support program, assisting the growth of leap-stage enterprises in their 3rd to 7th years of founding. Organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED), this program selected a total of 46 companies—26 for the large corporate collaboration model with companies like KT and LG Electronics, and 20 for the concurrent investment model with Korea Venture Investment Corp. (KVIC). The program provides accelerating programs, including up to 200 million KRW in commercialization funding and growth strategy consulting.

In addition, Gyeonggi CCEI operates various startup support programs targeting startups at different stages, focusing on revitalizing the domestic startup market and discovering and nurturing excellent startups. Therefore, we briefly introduce outstanding companies among these startups that achieved notable results last year and are expected to perform remarkably in 2026.

'Inno-te-co,' a Sensor Specialized Company Opening the Future of Gas Safety

Inno-te-co (CEO Kim In-ho), established in 2021, is a company specializing in gas sensors and gas safety devices, currently residing in the Business Incubator Center at the Tech University of Korea (TU Korea) located in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do. Inno-te-co's primary businesses include manufacturing gas alarms and developing software. Based on various gas sensor technologies, the company is responsible for the safety of industrial sites and living spaces. It has developed carbon monoxide alarms and provides practical safety solutions, such as participating in the pilot project for the fire detection and prevention system at Namdaemun Market.

Inno-te-co's core competitiveness lies in its independently developed sensor technology. After six months of research, the company developed and launched an ammonia sensor for smart farms. This sensor has completed verification in compliance with KS X 3279 from the Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion Agency (KOAT). It can accurately detect ammonia in the range of 0~100ppm and is equipped with an RS-485 Modbus communication function. Notably, it applied an independently developed hot-wire semiconductor sensor, which has been evaluated to have excellent detection performance with high selectivity, long lifespan, and linear signaling.

The company has also embarked on developing hydrogen sensors in preparation for the hydrogen economy era. It has executed a national R&D project for hydrogen sensor development and participated in a demonstration project for hydrogen and oxygen sensors within the water electrolysis facilities of Korea East-West Power (EWP). Furthermore, as a member of an industry-academia joint research team comprising Ajou University, MNTech, B-Purple, EWP, and Jeonnam Technopark, it participated in a development project for explosion-proof hydrogen and oxygen sensor systems for water electrolysis.

In addition, Inno-te-co was selected in 2022 for the industry-academia-research cooperation project conducted by the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) under the MSS. Through this, it proceeded with the development of gas sensor elements via semiconductor process design in collaboration with Professor Kim Chang-gyu from the Department of Nano Semiconductor Engineering at TU Korea. In 2024, the company was also selected for the Startup Growth Technology Development Project's 'Stepping Stone' (Didimdol) 2nd Global R&D, laying the groundwork for market entry. It is expanding its product lineup, including the launch of smart gas alarms, while securing international certifications by acquiring the US FCC certification.