LG NOVA InnoFest Startup Pitch Competition 2024

LG NOVA is on a mission to build new ventures and develop new solutions in partnership with innovative companies to bring positive change to people and the planet. They aspire to create businesses in new markets to create a better life for everyone.

Focus Areas

• HealthTech
  • Lighting the path to the transformation of healthcare
  • The move to a healthier, happier society is a key priority in the pursuit of a better future for people and communities. They want to create a healthier, happier society with greater access to high-quality, personalized care experiences. Healthcare should be accessible to everyone and it should be a key priority in the daily life – as much as eating and sleeping. They’d like to hear about innovative solutions that will help them solve the challenges of promoting a healthier population through:
    • Enabling more providers to deliver better health outcomes to their patients by increasing access to innovative healthcare options
    • Helping people take charge of their health and creating personalized approaches to healthcare – streamlining and simplifying access
    • Solving for the challenges in the current healthcare ecosystem, and increasing its ability better serve its communities.
• CleanTech & Sustainability
  • Accelerating the growth of sustainability
  • They’re in a race to create a more sustainable world – and they’re in search of that killer application or business case that will help them move forward faster to bring about lasting change for a greener, healthier planet. They want to hear about innovative business and technology ideas that will help accelerate them to where they need to be. Share with them your ideas in:
    • Increasing the ability to provide power across disparate communities
    • Technologies for EV Battery, Carbon Reduction, Recycling or Clean Energy
    • Innovative approaches to increasing sustainability for businesses, institutions and organizations
    • Ideas for energy generation, use and allocation that will help provide people what they need while continuing to help reach global sustainability goals
    • Other Cleantech, environmental, energy, and recyclable ideas that will help lead the change to sustainability.
• Artificial Intelligence
  • Revolutionizing the way they live and work
  • AI unlocks new possibilities for solving real-world problems—fundamentally reshaping industries and society at large. They have a human-centric approach to enabling AI technology for the betterment of the daily lives – in meaningful ways. They want to hear about ideas and implementations that use AI to enhance and create new opportunities for work, play, education and commerce:
    • Use of AI to enable a future workforce to be more productive, creative and efficient, up-leveling people’s contributions to work
    • AI in healthcare, finance, industrial, professional services and other market sectors yet to be determined
    • Macro and micro use of AI to drive people to new ways and better ways to life their lives.
• Life Sciences
  • Connecting science to life for a better future
  • The life sciences sector plays a pivotal role in addressing global health challenges and enhancing the quality of life, they’re working to discover and develop new technologies that can fundamentally change how they provide therapeutic solutions in the future. LG Chem would like to hear about new technologies that can fundamentally change how view therapeutic solutions in the future, such as:
    • New therapies, treatments and approaches in oncology
    • Technologies for metabolic diseases and next-generation ADC (Antibody Drug Conjugate)
    • Advancements in cell therapy and organ-on-a-chip solutions
    • The use of AI/ML to improve drug discovery platforms.
• Smart Life
  • Creating innovations for better living
  • The world is ready for bold new ideas that will improve the everyday lives in meaningful ways. They want to hear about wholly new categories of business ideas and capabilities for smart living. They’re looking for solutions for home, entertainment, education, leisure and more that have the potential to make life better for people.
• Open Innovation
  • Exploring new ideas that will shape the future
  • They’re looking for new areas of not-yet-developed innovations that may significantly impact the future. Are you introducing your own market category? Are you breaking norms? Pitch them your disruptive idea that will have a positive impact on the future.

Why submit?

• Get recognized for the work your company is doing to build a better future.
• Showcase your company to potential investors and corporate partners. Make connections to accelerate your business venture. Win a cash prize and a trophy.
• The prestige panel of judges in the past has included veteran entrepreneurs, LG executives, celebrity investors, and venture capitalists.

Eligibility Criteria

• The MFTF is open to all types of applicants, including any of following, as long as the applicant meets the eligibility requirements:
  • Individuals or individual Entities: Companies of any size, academic researchers, research institutions, accelerators, incubators, technology transfer firms, consultants, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and inventors.
  • Team Entries: Teams and collaborative groups of one or more individuals or entities (each, a “Team”) provided that (i) the Entry Materials submitted for the Team designates a primary point of contact (“Team Contact”) to engage with LG NOVA; (ii) LG NOVA shall not be responsible for communicating with any Team members other than the Team Contact; and (ii) LG NOVA shall not be held responsible for or be deemed a party to any teaming agreements, verbal, written or implied, formed between members of the Team.
• You or, for Team Entries, a member of the Team, must have developed, or be in the process of developing a product or service based on a new or innovative technology, or an innovative application of an existing technology developed by you or, for Team Entries, a member of the Team (“Innovation”).
• There are no restrictions on your future funding or, for Team Entries, the future funding of any member of the Team, based on your or the Team’s funding as of the date of its Entry Materials submission.
• You do not have, and no officer, director of the entity on whose behalf you submit the Entry or, for Team Entries, no Team member (or officer, or director, of the Team member) has, any familial or financial relationship with LG NOVA or any Judge.
• Excluded Countries: Each of the following is an Excluded Country: Crimea – Region of Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), Sudan, Russia, Belarus, and Syria.

Evaluation Criteria

• Strength of the Startup: team, traction, customer data, product / technology strength, uniqueness / IP, product-market fit.
• Strategic alignment of the proposed collaboration with LG: good fit for LG, strength of collaboration thesis, how likely is the collaboration to actually succeed, team commitment to the collaboration (excited, proactive, etc.)
• Business potential of the collaboration: product-market fit, market size, business model.
• Key differentiators for the collaboration: enduring competitive advantage and key differentiators from competitors such as team, IP, business model, prospective partnerships, LG strategic partnership.
• Transformational impact: technology innovation, overall strategic benefit, goal: “transformational” not “incremental”.
• Investability and scalability: input from capital partners on the prospective partnership and its ability to scale, funding received to date, investors to date.

For more information, visit LG NOVA.