KT's ESG Initiatives Support Warm Technology Companies... Three Firms Including Itgreen

KT Warm Technology Plus Challenge Agreement Ceremony Held

KT announced on the 10th that it has selected six companies to receive support this year through the contest 'KT Warm Technology Plus Challenge' and held a signing ceremony. Representatives of the selected social economy companies are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by KT

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] KT announced on the 11th that it has selected six companies to receive support this year in the social economy enterprise contest "KT Warm Technology Plus Challenge," held in collaboration with the Korea Social Value Solidarity Fund and Impact Square, and held a signing ceremony.

The KT Warm Technology Plus Challenge selects social economy enterprises that solve social problems and contribute to creating social value, providing business realization funds. It also supports technology and management consulting utilizing KT's future technology assets such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and robotics to help the companies enhance their existing services or technologies.

In the second contest held following last year, a total of 105 social economy enterprises nationwide applied, and after three rounds of professional evaluation, six companies were finally selected. The selected companies were focused on energy and environmental projects, digital inclusion projects for vulnerable groups, and prevention and response to industrial site safety accidents.

The social venture "Itgreen" was unanimously approved in the energy and environment sector. Recently, Itgreen has expanded the use of reusable containers commonly used in cafes and beverage stores by partnering with various restaurants to provide and collect stainless steel reusable delivery containers. Through KT’s support project, Itgreen aims to improve the reusable container collection process using big data and establish an ICT-based collection logistics system.

Amid the recent enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which prioritizes safety at industrial sites, "HHS" was also selected. The company detects various biometric signals of workers at work sites through helmets. It is also developing a biometric signal-based safety management system that alerts in emergency situations. The company plans to jointly develop a platform with KT that enables interoperability and linkage of various wearable safety devices based on networks such as 5G.

"Deeplee," which provides care services based on sound analysis AI technology, plans to enhance a solution that isolates and extracts specific sounds to identify emergency situations in daily life together with KT. When this solution is linked with AI devices such as Giga Genie, it can quickly monitor and respond to surrounding dangerous situations, which is expected to significantly reduce safety accidents at home for vulnerable groups.

The six selected social economy enterprises will receive up to 100 million KRW in business realization funds and KT’s technology and management mentoring for six months. For companies requiring office space, the DigiCo KT Open Lab space within Gwanak S Valley will also be provided. After six months, an additional 50 million KRW in support funds will be given to outstanding companies selected through a final evaluation.

Kim Moosung, Executive Director of KT ESG Management Promotion Office, said, “We expect that KT’s ABC-based future technologies and infrastructure combined with innovative ideas from social economy enterprises will create even greater social value. We will continue to discover and support excellent social economy enterprises in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) fields and lead the establishment of a virtuous cycle system that produces tangible results through technological and business synergies among companies.”

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