Gwangju City Holds New Technology Contest for Disaster Safety Industry

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 13th that it will hold the ‘Disaster Safety Industry New Technology Contest’ to discover and nurture local companies and prospective entrepreneurs possessing new technologies in the disaster safety industry sector.

This contest was prepared to foster the disaster safety industry, a core pledge in the safety sector of the 7th local government administration.

The contest fields include two categories: new technologies and research & development across the disaster safety industry, such as firefighting, disaster prevention, daily life, and industrial safety. Eligible participants are companies located in Gwangju with new technologies related to disaster safety, prospective entrepreneurs, research institutes, and universities. Applications can be submitted via email or mail by July 21.

The city will select winners through a first document screening at the end of July and a second public audition-style screening at the end of August. Nine winners will receive certificates and a total prize of 18 million KRW, with 5 million KRW awarded to the grand prize winner in the new technology category and 3 million KRW to the grand prize winner in the research & development category.

In particular, winners will be given opportunities to participate in booths and product demonstrations at the ‘2020 Korea Safety Industry Expo,’ co-hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as well as various benefits such as planning national government projects for 2021.

Jung Min-gon, Director of the City’s Citizen Safety Office, said, “Recently, demand and interest in new disaster safety technologies have been focused due to new types of disasters like COVID-19 and large-scale disasters. We expect a triple-win effect of mutual growth by supporting the growth of local companies with new disaster safety technologies, spreading disaster prevention technologies, expanding opportunities to enter new markets, and creating jobs.”

Meanwhile, last July’s Disaster Safety Industry Idea Contest received a total of 51 submissions, including 23 policy proposals and 28 commercialization projects. All finalists were given the opportunity to attend the Korea Safety Industry Expo.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.