Ministry of Environment and SK Innovation Launch Social Business Contest for Environmental Sector

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon] The Ministry of Environment and SK Innovation, together with the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency and the nonprofit organization Synnarae Association, are conducting the "Environmental Sector Social Business Discovery Contest" until the 10th of next month to discover social ventures and social economy enterprises with technologies and products for a sustainable environment.

This contest was organized to discover and nurture social ventures and social economy enterprises with innovative technologies and products that can improve the environment, aiming to address environmental issues and establish a social safety net.

The contest targets growth-stage social ventures and social economy enterprises that have technologies, products, services, or business items capable of commercializing solutions to environmental problems.

The contest themes include ▲'Resource Circulation' which involves recycling and upcycling of waste plastics, waste lubricants, etc., ▲'Sustainable Environment' which focuses on reducing and treating greenhouse gases, atmospheric gases, fine dust, etc., ▲'Sustainable Resources' which covers energy efficiency improvement, equipment technology to reduce electricity consumption, and renewable energy utilization technologies, and ▲'Battery & Mobility' related to medium and large batteries and future mobility.

The application period is until June 10. SK Innovation plans to select up to 20 teams and hold an awards ceremony in July, granting each team a prize of 1.5 million KRW. Among them, up to three 'focused nurturing teams' will be selected for their outstanding social value and high relevance to SK Innovation's business, each receiving up to 200 million KRW in initial growth support funds. These teams will also receive mentoring to support their business through SK Innovation's capabilities in marketing, public relations, finance, and planning.

Last year, among over 130 companies that applied for the contest, SK Innovation selected three companies?'Somuna,' 'Mongsenoo,' and 'Jayeon Everida'?as final focused nurturing targets and awarded 200 million KRW in growth support funds to the grand prize winner.

Im Sugil, Head of Public Relations at SK Innovation, emphasized, "This program is designed by the Ministry of Environment and SK Innovation to discover and nurture innovative eco-friendly businesses for a sustainable environment that benefits both humanity and the environment. We will enhance the social and economic value of the discovered companies by directly and indirectly connecting them with the value chain of SK Innovation’s affiliated business companies."

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