Nexen Tire Partners with Plug and Play for Future Technology and Business Development

- Nexen Tire forms strategic partnership with Plug and Play, world's most impactful innovation platform

- The company plans to build a global network of start-ups in the tire and mobility industries with promising technology and business capabilities

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Plug and Play

Jun 18, 2019, 14:36 ET

SEOUL, South Korea, June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexen Tire, a leading global tire manufacturer, announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Plug and Play, the world's largest corporate innovation platform and startup accelerator.

As a part of its effort to build an infrastructure for future technology development and new business initiation, Nexen Tire has decided to join forces with Plug and Play. As a market leading accelerator, Plug and Play was an early investor in Silicon Valley's most renowned firms including PayPal, Lending Club, Dropbox and SoundHound.

Nexen Tire announces their partnership at Plug and Play's Summer Summit 2019. From left to right: Don Lee (Executive Director, Nexen Tire America Technical Center), Johannes Rott (Director, German Corporate Partnerships, Plug and Play), Saeed Amidi (CEO & Founder, Plug and Play)

The two companies announced a partnership on June 13^th at Plug and Play's HQ in Sunnyvale, California, forming a strategic partnership to pursue innovative collaborations in the tire and mobility industries. The announcement was made during the Summer Expo, one of the largest events at Plug and Play with over 500 attendees from major OEMs, top automotive suppliers, top tier venture capitalists, and startups.

Through the partnership with Plug and Play, Nexen Tire will seek to partner up with the next wave of the most promising technologies in the tire and mobility industries. This should also enable Nexen Tire to realize its 'open R&D' philosophy, offering collaboration and partnerships, especially to firms in the tire technology field.

Don Lee, Executive Director of Nexen Tire America Technical Center said "Nexen Tire is pleased to announce the partnership with Plug and Play, one of the world's leading accelerators," adding, "We hope to utilize this opportunity to build a stronger global presence in terms of technology and business, and transform into an innovative corporation while also contributing to the start-up ecosystem as a whole."

Sobhan Khani, Vice President, Mobility & IoT of Plug and Play also commented, "We are delighted to have another global corporation join our platform," and added, "We hope this partnership will serve as an opportunity for both Nexen Tire and Plug and Play in nurturing an innovative business ecosystem for the automobile industry."

About Nexen Tire
Nexen Tire, established in 1942, is a global tire manufacturer headquartered in South Korea. Nexen Tire, one of the world's fastest growing tire manufacturers, works with more than 500 dealers based in 137 countries around the world (as of May 2019) and owns four manufacturing plants – two in Korea (Yangsan and Changnyeong) and one in Qingdao, China. Another plant in Žatec, Czech Republic has also begun operation in 2019. Nexen Tire produces tires for passenger cars, SUVs, and light trucks with advanced technology and excellence in design. The company also focuses on producing UHP tires, which are based on advanced technologies. Nexen Tire supplies OE tires to global car makers in various countries around the world. In 2014, the company achieved a grand slam of the world's top 4 design awards for the first time amongst the various tire makers in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.nexentire.com.

About Plug and Play
Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since our inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 20 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 280 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup Protected ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.

SOURCE Plug and Play