SK ecoplant

To maintain our existing title of best honorary company for win-win growth, the Win-Win Growth Committee is planning to develop a detailed action plan for shared growth with our partners to gradu-ally add more targets for the Biz. Partners support program. Aim-ing to provide the program to all registered suppliers by 2025, we plan to expand program coverage in four phases. Further, an open R&D platform has been set up to identify suppliers eligible for new business models.

As of 2021, SK ecoplant’s economic performance reached KRW 5.1 trillion in value thanks to a cooperative relationship with our business partners. We have achieved the title of best honorary company in the win-win growth index evaluation sponsored by the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership for five consecutive years, starting from 2016. Moreover, we were named as a voluntary win-win cooperation (caring) company that shares our capabilities and know-how with SMEs and startups, resulting in a business agreement with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to foster innovative companies in the eco-friendly and smart fields.
Having promoted ESG management in earnest in 2021, SK ecoplant changed the name of the existing ‘happy wing council’ to ‘ECO Partners’ and we held regular events to and we held regular events to enhance mutual understanding in this respect. This reflects the increasing importance of our partners collaborating with us to pursue ESG management. Grievances are received and handled through a regular consultation channel in the partner bulletin board on the Biz. Partner website, and a settlement council is in operation to help the company and business partners reach an agreement or settle differences in the case that a conflict arises. In addition, a regular channel has been set up on our homepage to provide counselling and receive voluntary reporting on ethical management.

SK ecoplant’s win-win growth programs cover a wide range of fields such as finance, human resources and recruitment, technology, education, market development, and welfare benefits. We actively promote these programs to our Biz. Partners to support their sustainable growth and welfare benefits. We actively promote these programs to our Biz. Partners to support their sustainable growth. Leading programs for 2021 include a fund of KRW 400 billion for win-win growth loans, interest-free loans, process improvement consulting in connection with industrial innovation trends, performance-sharing through joint technology development, joint participation in job fairs, and support for the long-term employment of key personnel through the Naeil Chaeum deduction system. In addition, a technology protection service is provided through a leasing contract on tech data for implementing agreements on win-win growth and fair transactions according to the ban on requests for technical data under Paragraph 3 of Article 12 of the Fair Transactions in Subcontracting Act. Furthermore, educational expenses went toward business partners for their employees to complete practical training in construction. For key leaders, the Global MBA program offers systematic education to enhance management capabilities. As the demand for safety experts is on the rise due to the more stringent enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act in 2022, we are planning to introduce and operate a new program to support our business partners in bolstering their safety management capabilities. From 2021, training for business partners was implemented using content created on ethical management and seminars were held eight times to improve CEO competencies, with the aim of raising the ethical awareness of business partners and jointly promoting sustainability. In 2021, such support was provided to all business partners (approx.. 957 companies), including secondary and tertiary suppliers. Through this training, we recommend business partners to share the same content with their secondary and tertiary suppliers.

By actively capitalizing on our engineering capacity and networks, SK ecoplant has established an open R&D platform for full-stage support, from idea discovery to technological commercialization. Through this, SMEs and startups receive customized support at each growth stage, and a program is in operation to provide SK ecoplant’s construction sites as test beds for newly developed technologies. Furthermore, as a representative program of our open platform, we implement the program for discovering and matching technology demand in the eco-friendly smart sector in both halves of every year.
In the first half of 2021, the ‘Tech Open Collaboration’ contest was held jointly with the Daejeon Creative Economy Innovation Center to discover technologies and match them not only with SK ecoplant, but also Biz. Partners with compatible needs. Seven partners were selected from the contest in the field of ‘joint R&D technology’. In the second half of the year, the ‘ConTech Meet-Up Day’, a tech contest held in collaboration with the Korea Innovation Foundation two years in a row, selected three companies in immediately applicable technology and five in joint R&D technology under the categories of eco-friendliness, new energy, high-tech, housing construction, etc. For the 15 companies selected in both halves of the year, follow-up plans are prepared for comprehensive support, such as signing MOUs and pursuing technological commercialization with SK ecoplant’s related divisions. Non-awarded companies will also receive support, albeit limited to necessary technologies. KCMT, the winner of the 2021 ConTech Meet-up Day, received KRW 40 billion in investment through our Investment Review Committee.
Based on these experiences, SK ecoplant discovers SMEs and startups with innovative technologies and matches them with companies with compatible needs. We plan to use KRW 120 billion of our own funds to directly invest in tech-holding companies. Moreover, mobile offices and online and offline training will be expanded through cooperation with external specialist organizations, with performance monitoring expected by 2022.

ConTech Meet-up Day is a program for fostering win-win cooperation between SK ecoplant, our Biz. Partners, and startups through activities on technological cooperation. Through this program, we discover companies equipped with immediately applicable technology or joint R&D technology by conducting document screening and PT reviews. Eight companies that were selected in 2021 received support for technology advancement and on-site test beds, as well as opportunities for commercializing their businesses based on achievements in joint R&D. Of these, one company completed the launch of a project using its technology while five others are conducting joint R&D with SK ecoplant through MOU agreements. We will continue ConTech Meet-up Day in 2022.

SK ecoplant is planning to make a joint investment towards constructing a production line for K-eco bars* in 2022 in cooperation with KCMT, a specialized GFRP reinforcing bar manufacturer, and Carbon Fiber & Young, a new eco-friendly materials maker. Both enterprises were selected through the 2021 ConTech Meet-up Day contest. Beginning production in early 2023, the aim is to produce 40,000 tons per year by 2024. Further, we will provide our worksites as test beds to conduct pilot testing, while also aiding these enterprises in selling to other companies as well.

* K-eco bar emits 50% less carbon compared to other materials as it is manufactured without using scrap iron, limestone, etc.