SK Innovation has selected 10 youth startup teams to tackle energy and social issues using artificial intelligence (AI) technology and has begun a comprehensive support process.
On July 14, SK Innovation held a kickoff event and boot camp for the final selected teams of its 'AI Impact Solutions' program at the SK Serin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The 'AI Impact Solutions' program aims to discover startup teams with ideas to solve energy and social problems based on AI technology. It is hosted and sponsored by SK Innovation, operated by the Qunesty Foundation, and supported by the Community Chest of Korea.
After recruiting participants from May 11 to June 12, the final 10 teams were selected through evaluations by experts in energy, AI technology, commercialization, investment, and social value.
The selected teams presented AI solutions addressing various social issues, including improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in AI data centers, as well as care, safety, environment, mobility, and education.
Ideas included technologies to reduce inefficiencies in battery recycling processes, methods to lower heat and noise in data centers, data analysis for early diagnosis of rare cancers, and real-time digital sign language generation.
During the boot camp on July 14, teams developed plans for proof of concept (PoC) execution over the next four months and clarified their commercialization strategies. Participants attended lectures on AI technology and business, presenting their solutions and refining their business design.
Professor Jeon Hae-gon from Yonsei University's Department of Artificial Intelligence delivered a lecture on 'Success Conditions and Execution Directions Learned from AI Technology PoC Cases,' discussing practical strategies for defining verifiable PoC scopes, deriving key hypotheses, and designing verification metrics.
In the business sector, Kim Moon-kyu, an independent director at CNT Tech, spoke on 'Impact Business Models in the AI Era,' introducing methods for concretely defining customers, beneficiaries, and application sites, as well as building sustainable operating models and establishing social value measurement indicators.
In the team solution pitching session, each team presented the problems they aim to solve, the stages of technology development, and their PoC plans. Participants assessed the feasibility of their technologies and commercialization strategies based on expert feedback.
SK Innovation will provide one-on-one mentoring opportunities with experts in AI technology, business, and social value to the selected teams until October.
Mentoring in the AI technology field will involve domestic scholars specializing in physical cognition AI and multimodal AI, as well as members of SK Innovation's AX team with AI expertise. They will advise teams on enhancing the completeness of their technologies and applying them in real-world settings.
The participating teams will present their results at a performance-sharing event, 'Demo Day,' in November. Based on the presentations and business outcomes, SK Innovation will select the top three teams and continue with follow-up programs, including business advancement and impact investment connections.
SK Innovation Vice President Kang Chung-sik stated, "AI is now a key tool for solving complex social issues such as energy efficiency, carbon reduction, care, safety, education, and mobility. We will actively support the participating teams to ensure their technologies are validated in real-world settings and lead to social value."
Qunesty CEO Lee Soon-yeol expressed hope that the 10 selected teams would demonstrate practical solutions to energy and various social issues based on AI technology, stating, "We will closely support the entire process from proof design to commercialization and impact measurement to help ensure that technologies and ideas lead to real social change."
Meanwhile, SK Innovation has recently launched a large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) power generation project in Vietnam, valued at approximately 3.3 trillion won.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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