[INTERVIEW] Rokit seeks to lead 3D bio-printer market

You Seok-hwan, founder and ceo of Rokit, poses in front of the 3D bio-printer Invivo at his office in Gasan Digital Complex in western Seoul, Tuesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Kim Ji-soo

Grit and perseverance are what Rokit founder and CEO You Seok-hwan looks for when recruiting for his commercial 3D printer and 3D bio-printer company.

He emphasizes "bio-printer" in his company's description because while Rokit started out making commercial 3D printers and continues to do so through its 3DISON line of products, it has shifted its focus toward the production and application of its 3D bio-printer line, called Invivo. While 3D bio-printing is a highly watched field, it is still years away from effectively producing artificial human organs.

"Because 3D printing is about creating new added value through customization, not mass production. It is about creating high value through design and customization. And because every human body is different, there could not be a better market than the human body," You said in an interview at his office in Gasan Digital Complex in southwestern Seoul.

The shift to bio-printers seems to be a smart move for Rokit, which was founded in 2012 to produce commercial 3D printers, including one called Chocosketch that uses chocolate for ink.

"And with that 3D printer, people can make something out of chocolate and eat it later," he said.

The company's other commercial products are used in many fields — manufacturing, architecture, design, medicine, fashion and bioengineering. But the company has gained attention once again with the 3D bio printer.

"Business, I think, is about identifying a megatrend and then creating the business in tandem with the trend," You said.

You learned that valuable lesson after decades working at Daewoo Motors, then at U.S. security solutions company Tyco and finally at Korean biopharmaceutical R&D company Celltrion Healthcare.

Taking all those experiences, he bet on the bioindustry as a growth engine for Korea for the next two or three decades. In his view, the longer lifespan and accompanying additional health costs mean 3D bio-printing, which can be tailored to each patient's needs, would be a megatrend.

At about $50,000 per unit, Invivo is relatively cheaper than products already out there. The 3D printer is a compilation of nearly 100 or more biological technologies, You said. Invivo has an extrusion system to print out such filament-type bio materials as PLA and a dispenser method able to print bio-ink such as collagen and gelatin. Also, Invivo has a hot-melting dispenser with a pneumatic system that allows it to handle any types of material with high-temperature and combine a wide range of materials.

What Invivo owners can do is use these materials to produce cell structures in the form of organic tissue, to make it possible to create customized and transplantable tissue cells collected from a specific patient. Currently, the company mainly sells the printers and the biomaterials. It also sells kidney, pancreas and cardiac tissues for testing at laboratories.

"It's mainly a laboratory market in Korea for now," he said. But he is betting on that to change.

"In five years or so, I expect to see our company not only as a provider of 3D bio-printing hardware and software, but also of artificial organs."

He estimates Korea accounts for only 1.5 percent of the world's 3D printing market. But he expects Korea will account for a larger share. In Korea, Rokit now accounts for 90 percent of the market.

It may well be a long way off, but You said in the high-tech business, one should not be deterred by naysayers or skeptics.

"For 3D bio-printers, you need to understand biology and not only focus on precision," he said.

Since its founding, Rokit has grown from only four employees to 50.

"In the initial days, I spent about 1.2 million won on Starbucks coffee a month, as there wasn't much to do," You joked.

But things soon picked up. In 2016, the company registered 5 billion won in sales; sales for this year are expected to reach 15 billion won.

It helped that Rokit received $3 million in Korean government support to produce artificial skin for implants, for which the company collaborated with the Korean Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Hanyang University and Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials.

It is interesting to note that You's disappointment in his corporate life and the cutthroat competition led him to search for a sustainable, high-potential industry.

His experience, especially at Celltrion Healthcare, made him realize the potential of biomedicine.

"People are living longer while spending more on health care, especially toward the latter 30 years of their lives, if we were to say people who used to live until 60 can now can live up to 90," he said.

The various hardships he experienced at his previous jobs taught him how to be calm and optimistic, traits that have helped him succeed with Rokit. He has written about those experiences in a book titled "Break the Taboos."

"The changes in the next 10 years might be greater than in the past 1,000 years or so," You said.