Hello, I am Jun Ji-hye, a reporter at The Korea Times. I primarily cover financial authorities and write articles on a wide range of topics related to finance and capital markets. If you have any information to share, feel free to email me at jjh@koreatimes.co.kr, and I will review it carefully. I am committed to always doing my best to communicate with readers through high-quality articles.
K-water seeking to nurture startups in water industry
By Jun Ji-hye
The Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) is seeking to foster water industry innovation by nurturing promising startups to ensure safe and clean water supply to every household here.
By Jun Ji-hye
Toward that goal, the state-run company held a contest together with the Ministry of Environment, dubbed Startup Water 2020, in Seoul, Friday, during which time individuals and startups presented their innovative ideas to develop businesses in the water industry.
The contest was aimed at discovering promising future technologies that can be commercialized and serve as new growth engines for the industry.
K-water said 528 participants including university students have submitted 226 kinds of ideas, technologies and products in the three months since June.
Among those, the 100-member evaluation group selected 18 projects that can contribute to digital transformation in water quality management, resolving water shortages and preventing flood damage and water pollution. Among them, eight excellent projects were showcased during Friday's event.
K-water said winners will be offered prize money totaling 102 million won ($91,000), in addition to project commercialization support from the state-run company.
“The winners will be able to use dams and purification plants across the country that are under the control of K-water to carry out their performance tests,” a K-water official said.
The Korean Intellectual Property Office, Korea Venture Business Association and the U.N. Office for Sustainable Development also participated in the event to support overseas expansion of the selected projects.
“We will continue to come up with policies to nurture innovative startups possessing excellent technologies, in a bid to foster water industry development,” Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae said.