'SOVAC Avengers' Widely Promote Social Value

Social Enterprises and Social Ventures Supported by SK Innovation Participate in SOVAC 2020

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoonju Hwang] Eleven social enterprises and social ventures supported by SK Innovation are participating in 'SOVAC 2020 (Social Value Connect 2020)' together with SK Innovation. They have formed the ‘SOVAC Avengers’ to share insights gained through SOVAC 2020 and to widely promote SOVAC 2020.

The SOVAC Avengers were created so that social enterprises, the main protagonists of the values pursued by SOVAC, can enjoy it as a festival and utilize the rich and beneficial content of SOVAC in their management. In addition, as the main actors of SOVAC, they take charge of promoting SOVAC not only among members but also to those around them who pursue social value.

‘SOVAC’ began at the end of 2018 with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's proposal to "create a place for cooperation and exchange so that anyone can participate in solving social problems and create social value." The first event held last year was a great success, attracting over 5,000 visitors.

Now in its second year, SOVAC 2020 is conducting programs such as lectures and talk shows that connect people, knowledge, and solutions to solve social problems online via its website and YouTube due to COVID-19. Despite being held online, the scale has expanded with major ICT companies including SK Group affiliates, Naver, Kakao, and Google participating, as well as public institutions, the legal community, and influencers.

With the hosting of ‘SOVAC 2020,’ SK Innovation and eleven social enterprises and social ventures supported by SK Innovation (Jeonju Bibimbap, More Than, Wooshisan, Grape Lab, Somuna, Mongsenoo, Innomad, Marine Innovation, O2M, Injin, Maenggeurob) voluntarily created the online communication platform ‘SOVAC Avengers.’ Through this, they not only support SOVAC 2020 but also actively participate in expanding the social value discussion forum by sharing insights gained from lectures and other events.

The first session marking the start of ‘SOVAC 2020,’ titled ‘Social Value Value Series,’ featured ten social ventures realizing social value introducing their companies directly and held a time to select the best social venture through online mock investments by the general public. At this event, the social venture ‘Injin,’ which signed an SV² Impact Partnering agreement with SK Innovation, introduced the world’s first eco-friendly coastal wave power generation technology and won ‘The Best Innovation’ award at the subsequent awards ceremony.

The second session, ‘Practice for a Better World, Buy Social,’ which explored the consumption tendencies of the MZ generation and reviewed social enterprise products purchased accordingly, introduced products from the social enterprise ‘Grape Lab,’ which makes eco-friendly products replacing plastic using non-wood recycled paper, and the social enterprise ‘Wooshisan,’ which creates social value in the environmental field by upcycling waste plastic, drawing a strong response.

Meanwhile, the SOVAC Avengers can be seen as an expanded version of the SK Innovation Social Value Community (SV Community), which started earlier this year targeting social enterprises and social ventures. Through the SV Community, SK Innovation has been providing workshops and communication opportunities aimed at enhancing the capabilities and competitiveness of social enterprises and social ventures by sharing each company’s experiences, know-how, and learning, helping them grow.

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