[Earned his Ph.D. from MIT before founding a company that pioneered the world's first commercialization of ammonia fuel cells]
"The scientific thinking and problem-solving skills I learned at POSTECH built what 'Amogy' is today.“
On May 28, the 'POSTECH 40th Anniversary Lecture Series,' held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of POSTECH's founding, welcomed another notable figure to the stage. The guest of honor was Seonghoon Woo, CEO of Amogy, a global clean energy deep-tech company.
CEO Woo is an alumnus of the university's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Class of 2007. After completing his Ph.D. at MIT, he co-founded Amogy in 2021 together with a team of Korean researchers from MIT. The company develops carbon-free energy solutions powered by liquid ammonia and has drawn the attention of the global energy industry by becoming the first in the world to apply ammonia fuel cells to drones, tractors, trucks, and ships. Amogy has raised a cumulative total of approximately 400 billion KRW from major global companies including Amazon, Saudi Aramco, and SK, and is recognized as a company leading the Net Zero transition in hard-to-decarbonize industries such as heavy industry, logistics, and shipping.
The lecture served both to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the university's founding and as an opportunity for Woo to share his journey as a researcher and entrepreneur with current students. Speaking on the topic "Amogy's Global Energy Deep-Tech Journey: What I Gained from POSTECH," Woo candidly described how the foundational skills he built at the university became the basis for his entrepreneurial career and ability to compete globally. He spoke in detail about the realities of raising hundreds of billions of KRW in investment, the trial and error inherent to deep-tech entrepreneurship, and the strategic perspective Korean startups need in the global energy transition market. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session and an "Ask Us Anything" panel talk with alumni panelists, and the event concluded amid an enthusiastic atmosphere.
The event was also attended by Professor Heechul Ahn of POSTECH's Department of Industrial and Management Engineering and student Joong Woo Park (CEO of DeepLeHR) from the department of Industrial and Management Engineering, showcasing the full breadth of POSTECH's startup ecosystem connecting research, entrepreneurship, and industrial innovation. Professor Byoungwoo Kang, Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who moderated the event, said, "As department head, it was deeply meaningful to hear firsthand from an alumnus who has grown so remarkably," adding, "It was a valuable opportunity that showed our students the possibilities of both research and entrepreneurship at once.“
POSTECH plans to continue actively supporting the commercialization of research outcomes and startups founded by alumni and students, further strengthening its role as a cradle for nurturing global deep-tech entrepreneurs. To this end, the university intends to upgrade its full-cycle startup support system — encompassing entrepreneurship education, early-stage investment, support for global expansion, and alumni network connections — and further solidify its standing not just as a ‘research-focused university’ but as a ‘startup-friendly university.’
Meanwhile, POSTECH has been rapidly establishing itself as a startup-friendly university beyond its identity as a research-focused institution, including winning the Grand Prize at the 'Korea's Best University for Startups' awards for two consecutive years in 2024 and 2025. POSTECH Holdings, the university's technology holding company, has to date invested 55.5 billion KRW in 171 companies and helped attract a total of 648.4 billion KRW in follow-on investment.