Patent Office, 'Idea Sharing Contest' to Solve Social Issues

Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 2nd that it will hold the "Idea Sharing Contest" until the 11th of next month.

The contest is held with the purpose of raising public interest in social issues and solving social problems through ideas proposed by the public.

The contest topics are each presented by the Gangbuk Cultural Foundation (a public institution), the Korea Disabled Writers Welfare Support Association, Sejin Plus, and Poasis (social enterprises).

For example, the Gangbuk Cultural Foundation proposed as a challenge the activation of online performances to revive the cultural and artistic sector, which has been stagnated due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and to relieve public fatigue.

Additionally, the three social enterprises suggested ▲ ways to utilize business cards for the visually impaired ▲ ideas for products applying multipurpose panels made from textile waste such as discarded fabric ▲ building social networks and sustainable health promotion programs to address loneliness and inactivity among the elderly.

KIPO will receive ideas for each challenge through the contest and provide them free of charge to participating organizations to help them solve their respective social problems.

Participating organizations have pledged to use the shared ideas non-profit and to return at least two-thirds of any profits generated to society.

The contest is open to all citizens, and even if the idea is not new, intellectual property such as patents, designs, and trademarks can be proposed if suitable for solving the challenge.

KIPO will evaluate the submitted ideas based on feasibility, creativity, and concreteness, selecting and awarding outstanding ideas. Prize money totaling 6.5 million KRW will be awarded differentially to outstanding idea proposers (one each for Grand Prize, Excellence, Special Award, and five Encouragement Awards), with the Grand Prize receiving 2 million KRW, etc.

For more details about the contest, please visit the Korea Invention Promotion Association website or the National Intellectual Property Trading Platform.

Park Ho-hyung, Director of the Industrial Property Policy Bureau at KIPO, said, "Ideas are the beginning of intellectual property and the key to creating a better society," adding, "We hope that many excellent ideas capable of solving our society's difficulties will be discovered through this contest."

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