Solving Climate Change Issues with Startup Ideas

Participants of the Design Thinking Competition held in Daejeon from the 2nd to the 4th are taking a group photo. Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the National Climate and Environment Council announced on the 5th that they held the ‘Innovation for Blue Skies, Design Thinking Competition’ to address climate change issues such as fine dust and air pollution.

The competition, held from the 2nd to the 4th in Daejeon, was an event linked to the ‘World Clean Air Day for Blue Skies (UN-designated)’ held on September 7th, following a proposal by the Korean government.

The Innovation Platform Partnership for World Blue Skies included institutions such as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, National Climate and Environment Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chungcheongnam-do Province, National Research Council of Science & Technology, Korea International Cooperation Agency, British Embassy in Korea, Global Green Growth Institute, Korea Institute of Design Promotion, IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Denmark Innovation Center, Korea Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation, SK Securities, Yozma Group, and Northern Light Venture Capital.

Fifteen teams from seven countries including Denmark, Singapore, and India were finally selected to develop software, hardware designs, and prototypes contributing to solving fine dust and climate change. Nine overseas teams and six domestic teams participated, with overseas participants joining online remotely.

Through this program, participants received customized support from experts in technology and design fields to produce prototypes from product planning. They showcased innovations such as autonomous robots capable of indoor air quality management based on artificial intelligence, climate prediction apps for localized heavy rainfall usable by agricultural workers, and fine dust diagnostic services that provide ventilation or activity alerts through AI problem-solving workflows.

Huang Tangfon (Singapore, Green Scanner team), who attended the event, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic made me deeply appreciate the value of clean air and blue skies. It was amazing to be able to create prototypes from ideas together with Korean experts online. I am very pleased to participate in the design thinking competition hosted by the Korean government.”

The top teams selected through mutual evaluations by all participants and judges were InfoShare (Korea) and Pearl City (Denmark), and the excellence awards went to VI Tech (Korea) and Wave Air (Canada).

InfoShare developed a real-time air quality measurement system using a small fine dust sensor and received the highest scores for marketability and innovation, while Pearl City developed a building-attached passive air purifier and scored highly in technology. Both teams are invited to the International Technology Innovation Conference to be held in Seoul in the first half of next year.

Ban Ki-moon, Chairman of the National Climate and Environment Council, said, “We will support air quality improvement technologies and innovation systems through global young innovators and startups,” adding, “I hope this design thinking lab program will be an opportunity to create a better world in the international community.”