Jeju National University Supports Certification for 10 Early-Stage Startups, Helps with PMS Assessments and ISO 9001 Certification

【Financial News, Jeju = Reporter Jeong Yong-bok】 Jeju National University is elevating certification preparation for early-stage startups into a key pillar of its commercialization support.
According to the JNU Startup Support Center on the 4th, the university held the third session of the 'Startup Lunch Talk' at its Industry-Academia Cooperation Building on September 30, with 20 people in attendance, including representatives of companies participating in the Early-Stage Startup Package and local businesses.
The lecture focused on certification strategies for early-stage startups. Even after developing their technologies and products, startups must prepare for various certifications depending on their business areas, including quality management and food safety. If they fail to properly determine which certifications they need and when to prepare for them, the time and financial burden can increase during the early stages of the business. The lecture emphasized the need for an approach suited to each company's stage of growth.
This year, the JNU Startup Support Center is operating a certification support program for participating companies through the Early-Stage Startup Package.
The program supports 10 companies. It provides assessments under the Korean Productivity Management System (PMS), which examines a company's management system, as well as support for obtaining ISO 9001 certification, an international standard for quality management systems.
PMS is a system that assesses a company's management system and productivity level to identify areas for improvement. For early-stage startups, it can be used to examine whether their organizational operations and work procedures, as well as their products or services, are properly structured to support growth.
ISO 9001 is an international standard that evaluates whether a company has systematized its work and quality-control procedures so that it can manage its products and services at a consistent level of quality.
The lecture introduced major certification systems, including ISO standards and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system.
Kang In-cheol, CEO of Unid Consulting, explained what early-stage companies should check when preparing for certification, the appropriate timing for preparation at each stage of growth, and ways to use the certifications in the commercialization process after obtaining them.
The key is to select the certifications a company needs according to its products and services, business partners, and plans for expansion, rather than trying to obtain every certification at once from the earliest stage.
Because the certifications required vary by industry—for example, quality management for manufacturing and service companies and safety management for food-related businesses—companies must first examine the markets they plan to enter and their business plans.
JNU included certification support in the Early-Stage Startup Package to expand startup support beyond product development and business-plan preparation to the actual operation of companies.
Even when early-stage companies have technology or ideas, they may lack experience in organizational management, quality standards, and preparing for various certifications. If they wait until their businesses are fully operational to prepare for certification, they may also face the burden of reorganizing the necessary documents and work procedures.
The program focuses on helping companies identify and prepare in advance for the certifications they will need as they grow. After the lecture, the participating companies also held a networking session. Company representatives shared their experiences preparing for certification and discussed current business issues while exploring opportunities for interaction and collaboration.
The JNU Startup Support Center plans to continue programs aimed at strengthening participating companies' commercialization capabilities while conducting PMS assessments and supporting ISO 9001 certification this year. The effectiveness of the support is expected to be judged not by certification alone, but by whether companies successfully establish quality management and management systems in their actual business operations.


[email protected] Jeong Yong-bok Reporter