Korean innovators claim global spotlight with intellectual property

South Korean innovators have firmly established themselves as lead players on the global intellectual property stage.

The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced Friday that two Korean companies — startup Dabida and small and medium-sized enterprise ICTK — won main prizes at the 2026 WIPO Global Awards ceremony held at the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday (local time).

The WIPO Global Awards, established in 2022, recognize startups and small and medium-sized enterprises that have created economic and social value through creative and innovative IP-driven business models. This year, more than 1,300 companies from 126 countries applied, and 10 firms from seven countries — South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Brazil, Argentina and Chile — were ultimately selected. Dabida won in the startup category for the creative industries sector, while ICTK took the prize in the small and medium-sized enterprise category for information and communications technology.

The wins mark the third consecutive year a Korean company has received a WIPO Global Award, following Eighttech in 2024 and Codegrim in 2025. Two Korean firms being selected in the same year further underscores the internationally recognized strength of South Korean startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in IP-based commercialization and global growth potential.

Award recipients receive an invitation to the WIPO Global Awards ceremony in Geneva, tailored mentoring for IP commercialization, global promotional support through the WIPO platform, and networking opportunities with investors and potential partners.

Dabida, founded in 2019, is an AI-driven edtech and fintech company. Using its proprietary AI handwriting recognition technology, it analyzes students' handwritten problem-solving processes in real time and delivers personalized learning feedback. Its flagship service, Geniteacher, supports self-directed learning through solution-process analysis, step-by-step hints and learning reports. The company has expanded its lineup with Genitopic, Geniesay and Genimath, and is pursuing entry into overseas markets.

ICTK, founded in 2017, is a semiconductor-based quantum security company. It holds physical unclonable function, or PUF, technology that exploits the physical characteristics of the semiconductor manufacturing process to generate a unique, unclonable security key for each chip. By combining PUF technology with post-quantum cryptography, the company has expanded into a range of hardware security fields — including device authentication, anti-counterfeiting, security key protection and supply chain security — through its security chips and solutions.

Kim Yong-seon, commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said the awards reflect how Korean companies have moved beyond using intellectual property merely to secure rights, leveraging it instead as a core strategic asset for technology protection, commercialization and overseas expansion. He added that the office would continue to actively support startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in growing in global markets on the strength of robust IP portfolios, including by accelerating overseas rights acquisition, advancing IP commercialization, and bolstering IP protection and dispute-response capabilities.