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On the 8th of June, JNU Industry-Academic Cooperation Group (Head Lee Young-don) announced that it has recently signed a contract to transfer technology to Cynthia Co., Ltd. (CEO Kim Hyeong-seong) for the protection and cultivation of new varieties of "Halla Green 11", which is developed by the Subtropical Horticultural Industry Research Institute (Director Lee Hyo-yeon).

Depending on the appropriate growth conditions, grass is divided into warm-season grass (Korean wild grass) that grows green from May to September and cold-season grass (Western grass) that grows green from March to December. Wild grass, which is commonly seen, has the advantage of being less harmful and resistant to high temperatures, but turns yellow when it goes below 10 degrees Celsius in autumn. In addition, compared to Western grass, its leaves are rough, and at the same time, the grass does not grow densely. Therefore, despite being vulnerable to high temperatures in summer, Western grass has been planted on the golf courses and soccer fields, etc.

The "Halla Green 11" has a characteristic that the green of the leaves is extended even during the low temperature period from fall to winter (10℃ or less), thanks to its high aging delay effect. In addition, grass leaves grow as soft and dense as Western grass, so it can be planted in golf courses and soccer fields.

Mowing the grass is a necessary part of general grass management. Therefore, a lot of labor is required because we cut about 7-8 times a year. However, Halla Green 11 has the advantage of not having to mow because it grows to less than 5cm even if it grows the most as a dwarf-shaped grass. The institute explained that it will take this opportunity to actively develop new kinds of turfgrass to deal with climate change in the future and distribute them at home and abroad.

JNU Subtropical Horticultural Research Institute was designated as a key research institute by Korean government in 2007. Since then it has been mainly researching grass and tangerines. In 2011, it designated as a forest genetic resource management institute by the National Forest Variety Management Center. Since then, it has preserved, proliferated, and managed 600 kinds of genetic resources such as Wild grass, Golden lawn, and Seaside lawn grass collected from all around Korea. From these genetic resources, new varieties of turfgrass are cultivated using biotechnology.

Lee Young-don, Head of JNU Industry-Academic Cooperation Group, said, "JNU expect this technology transfer to be an excellent example of a technology business that combines JNU’s unique new technology with the commercialization capabilities of companies."