The Ministry of Environment (Minister Cho Myung-rae) held the final contest and award ceremony of the ‘2020 Green New Deal Idea Contest (Ecotone) using environmental data’ at the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (located in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul) on the afternoon of August 20.
This event was hosted by the Ministry of Environment and supervised by the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute.
The contest, which marks its 7th anniversary this year, was divided into two categories: idea planning and product/service development under the theme of ‘Take care of the environment of Korea with environmental data!’ applied for this
From August 3rd, expert advice (mentoring) was conducted for two weeks from the 3rd of August by selecting 7 works with excellent ideas from the 14 teams that passed the document screening. The award rankings were determined through the final online screening of the 7 teams, and the three-month contest was concluded.
The final contest was conducted through online video relay (YouTube real-time channel) by minimizing the number of attendees to participate in social distancing due to the recent re-spread of COVID-19. It went back to the ‘We Flat’ team that developed it.
The ‘Intelligent Leakage Management Online Platform’ has received favorable reviews for its ability to easily find and manage leaks without the help of leak detection experts by using Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, cloud technology, and environmental data registered in public data portals.
In addition, the grand prize was awarded to the ‘Wise Parenting Life’ team in the idea planning section and the ‘Smart Aircock’ team in the product and service development section, respectively. The ‘Wise Parenting Life’ team came in the spotlight as an idea to recommend indoor and outdoor environment-safe play areas for children and to inform them of environmental information in consideration of various weather information and eco-friendly products.
The ‘Smart Air Cock’ team introduced a service that analyzes indoor measurement data and outdoor data to improve air quality and provide behavioral content to maintain health. At the same time, two teams ‘Re-Life’ and ‘Olim’ in the idea planning section and two teams ‘Neptune Korea’ and ‘Zerosoft’ in the product and service development section were selected for the Excellence Award with various creative ideas and products done.
The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute plan to link the award-winning team with the support project for eco-friendly sprouting companies (eco startups) so that they can achieve stable growth in the early stage of the project. In particular, the best works in each category will be given a privilege to participate in the ‘8th Pan-Governmental Public Data Utilization Entrepreneurship Competition’ hosted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
Park Gwang-seok, head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the Ministry of Environment, said, “It should lead to practical results such as the creation of new jobs by actively utilizing environmental and public information open to the private sector. “He said.
Ecothon is a compound word of Eco, Hacker, and Marathon, and it is a contest in which ideas, products, or services using environmental information are improved through intensive mentoring for 1-2 days. The final contest can be viewed again through the YouTube channel of the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (youtube.com/channel/keiti).
Source: Ministry of Environment announces winners of ‘2020 Green New Deal Idea Contest (Ecotone) utilizing environmental data – SE News
“The knowledge and experience I accumulated at the K-water became the foundation for my start-up.”
Cha SangHoon (48), CEO of WI.Plat, joined the Korea Water Resources Corporation(K-water) in 1998 and served 23 years before jumping into a start-up (initial venture company). He quit the so-called ‘God’s workplace’ and started his own business, but surprisingly, there was no opposition from his family and other people around him. This is because his founding item was to utilize the knowledge and know-how he had accumulated while working in crafts.
CEO Cha started his business concept two years ago while working to help small and medium-sized enterprises export overseas. Southeast Asian countries want not only to install water pipes but also to solve the leak problem, but domestic companies felt there was no solution. Leakage reduction is a technology that only some companies with extensive experience in services such as handicrafts have.
CEO Cha decided to create a solution to solve the water pipe leak problem based on an online platform and provide it to SMEs. WI.Plat, an intelligent leak management solution provider, uses artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to create a system that can easily check leaks even without experts.
CEO Cha was able to use the start-up support that was in progress in connection with the in-house venture support project of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. In recognition of his technological prowess, he received technical development funds from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (100 million won) and Sugong (100 million won), respectively. The office uses the startup incubation space (startup hub) provided in the Daejeon Research Institute for free. With the help of handicrafts, he also had an opportunity to explain the technology to an investment company and secured two investment companies.
CEO Cha explained, “The Korea Water Resources Corporation is playing a role in helping startups grow and overcome the ‘Death Valley’ without difficulty in the 3rd to 7th years of their founding.”
Reporter Jo Ji-won jw@sedaily.com
WI.Plat will participate in the 42nd International Environmental Industry Technology & Green Energy Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as ENVEX 2020) held at COEX from June 17 (Wed) to 19 (Fri) and introduce ‘NELOW’, an intelligent leak management platform.
WI.Plat is an acronym for Water Intelligent Platform. Based on IoT, AI, and cloud technologies, we provide an intelligent leak management platform (equipment + smartphone app + cloud system) service that can easily and conveniently detect and manage water pipe leaks. Troubleshooting water pipe leaks.
An official said, “Existing leak management requires experts with extensive experience, expensive equipment and systems, and it also takes a long time to solve the actual leak problem. In the country, it is clearly visible and the problem of water leakage cannot be solved fundamentally, and the vicious cycle is repeated, leading to the problem of water supply. To solve this problem, WI.Plat developed a system by applying AI and cloud technology, and used equipment and systems. It is also designed to be supplied at a reasonable and economical cost.”
He continued, “WI.Plat’s NELOW system is easy for administrators to use. Our system can be used without any special knowledge or experience. In addition, we provide reliable performance guarantee services. The AI function of the system and K-Water Through accumulated leak reduction experience, we guarantee a practical leak reduction rate.”
On the other hand, ENVEX 2020, which marks its 42nd anniversary this year, has opened a business field every year for domestic environmental companies to develop overseas sales channels and domestic markets.
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