Hanwha Science Challenge Grand Prize Awarded to Eco-Friendly Spring Cart Production Team

Lee Gu-young, President of Hanwha Solutions (center), is awarding the grand prize to students at the Hanwha Science Challenge awards ceremony held on the 27th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Hanwha Group announced on the 30th that Baek Geon-woo and Jo Jae-in, students of Sejong Science Arts Gifted School (supervising teacher Kim Hee-soon), were selected as the grand prize winners of the Hanwha Science Challenge 2021.

The two students devised a method for producing an eco-friendly powered cart applying the operating principle of an automobile transmission and a clock spring. They received high scores across creativity of the research topic, logical research methods, and reliability of research results. In particular, they attracted attention by applying a simple and inexpensive operating principle instead of an expensive and high-maintenance power source. They proposed a safer and easier way for elderly people collecting waste paper to pull the cart.

The Hanwha Science Challenge is a contest held by Hanwha Group since 2011 to nurture young science talents and foster creative scientific human resources. Kim Seung-yeon, chairman of Hanwha Group, said in 2011 when the competition was first held, "We will develop it into the best and largest domestic competition contributing to the expansion of scientific culture, aiming to be the 'Young Nobel Prize of Korea.'"

The grand prize team received a prize of 40 million won. Two teams each for the gold and silver prizes received 20 million won and 10 million won respectively. The total prize money is 170 million won, the largest amount in Korea. This year, 279 teams and 558 high school students applied. The cumulative number of participants exceeds 13,000. Under the theme "How to Save the Earth," various ideas were researched according to topics such as energy, bio, climate change, and water, competing accordingly.

Student Baek Geon-woo said, "I was very interested and passionate because it was a process of creating what our society needs." Student Jo Jae-in said, "Even if the efficiency is low, being able to help someone just through the mechanism was a great joy." At the awards ceremony held on the 27th, Lee Gu-young, president of Hanwha Solutions, said, "We will continue to support scientific gifted talents who save the Earth and contribute to human life and happiness."

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