SK Telecom Takes the Lead in Dementia Prevention for Seniors, Forms Public-Private Alliance with Buyeo County

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] SK Telecom has joined hands with basic local governments, social value investment institutions, and social enterprises to create a ‘Dementia Safe Zone’ in Buyeo-gun.

On the 30th, SK Telecom held a launch ceremony at Myeongdong Community House Masil with eight companies and institutions including Pan Impact Korea, Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund, Happiness Sharing Foundation, B Plus, MY Social Company (MYSC), CHA University, Imokkok, and Happiness Connect to announce the start of the ‘Social Impact Bond (SIB) Project to Reduce Dementia Incidence in Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients’ conducted by Buyeo-gun, Chungcheongnam-do.

The ‘Social Impact Bond’ is a project where the private sector invests capital, manpower, and technology necessary to solve social problems, and the government or local governments provide incentives on the investment based on the outcomes. It has already been established as an effective means of solving social issues abroad, and in Korea, Seoul was the first metropolitan government to implement such a project in 2015. This Buyeo-gun Social Impact Bond project is the first at the basic local government level.

Accordingly, participating companies will start a public-private cooperation project from early next year targeting 100 elderly residents with mild cognitive impairment in Buyeo-gun annually for three years, totaling 300 people, to reduce the incidence of dementia. The mild cognitive impairment stage is a high-risk state with a high possibility of progressing to dementia, making it the ‘golden time’ for dementia prevention by maximizing treatment and prevention effects.

The participating companies plan to operate various dementia prevention programs including the latest ICT utilization such as AI care and the specialized cognitive training program ‘Meta Memory Classroom.’

In this project, SK Telecom will support the latest ICT services such as the AI speaker NUGU and provide consultation and sponsorship based on its years of experience and know-how in AI care and dementia prevention project operations. SK Telecom has maintained cooperation since the project’s inception by signing an ‘MOU for Dementia Prevention Business Cooperation’ with Buyeo-gun in September 2019.

Pan Impact Korea, the operating organization, will oversee the project based on its successful experience with the Seoul Social Impact Bond project. Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund, Happiness Sharing Foundation, B Plus, and MY Social Company will pre-invest the necessary costs, while Happiness Connect, CHA University, and Imokkok will directly carry out the project based on the research experience of specialized medical staff.

Generally, the annual dementia incidence rate among the elderly is about 1-2%, whereas the dementia incidence rate in mild cognitive impairment is very high at approximately 15%. The evaluation agency for the Buyeo-gun Social Impact Bond project will measure the dementia incidence rate among Buyeo-gun elderly annually, and if it falls below 7.5% after three years, participating companies will receive incentives of up to 24% of their investment amount.

This public-private cooperation is expected to significantly reduce social costs related to dementia due to the increasing elderly population, as well as improve the well-being of individual elderly people. Additionally, Buyeo-gun expects to efficiently execute its budget through voluntary investments by private investors and professionally solve social problems by utilizing the private sector’s creative ideas.

Wooonghwan Yoo, Head of SK Telecom SV Innovation Center, said, “The Social Impact Bond project is an effective way to respond to increasingly complex and diverse social problems,” adding, “We will continue innovative efforts to create social value through 5G era technologies with various stakeholders.”

Jaehoon Kwak, CEO of Pan Impact Korea, said, “This Social Impact Bond project is not only the first basic local government project in Korea but also the world’s first Social Impact Bond case in the health sector incorporating AI technology,” adding, “We hope that more basic local governments will join administrative innovation through public-private cooperation following the Buyeo-gun project.”