SK Siltron Selects Outstanding Teams of 'Happiness Makers' Solving Local Issues for Elementary Students

Selection of 30 Teams... Future Support for Commercialization of 6 Teams

SK Siltron announced on the 14th that, following last year, it has completed the selection of outstanding project teams as part of the second year of the 'Happy Maker' program to nurture ESG-type future talents in the local community.

Happy Maker is a renewed and expanded program based on last year's My(my) Gumi initiative. Its purpose is for elementary school students to directly plan and execute ideas to solve various social issues. If selected as an outstanding project, teams can receive support for commercialization in connection with social enterprises.

Last year's grand prize winner, the 'Ugly Agricultural Products Vegetable Chips,' successfully reached final commercialization and was launched earlier this year as products named 'Onion Mave' and 'Garlic Mave.' The Ugly Agricultural Products Vegetable Chips, born from the ideas of the 'Bright E-deul' team from Jeongsu Elementary School, have received positive responses at local food markets in the Gyeongbuk region and online shopping malls to date.

Elementary school students from Gumi City participating in the Happy Maker Outstanding Project Awards Ceremony are taking a group commemorative photo. /
[Photo by SK Siltron]

This year, about 550 fifth and sixth graders from elementary schools in Gumi participated in the program, presenting a total of 104 ideas related to solving problems in six areas linked to major policies of Gumi City, including ▲resource circulation, ▲biodiversity conservation, ▲sustainable food development, among others. Ideas included upcycling of waste vinyl and small plastics, habitats of endangered migratory birds, and ecosystem protection.

On this day, SK Siltron judged the ideas at Wangsang Elementary School in Gumi and selected 30 outstanding project teams for awards. Going forward, they plan to support the commercialization of ideas from the top 6 teams in collaboration with the Gyeongbuk Gumi Office of Education and Gumi City Hall. In the third quarter, expert consulting will be provided to support prototype development and production, and in the fourth quarter, social contribution and business feasibility will be evaluated for final commercialization.

Meanwhile, SK Siltron created a total social value (SV) of 520.6 billion KRW last year, a 19% increase compared to the previous year. Specifically, ▲economic indirect contribution performance was 552 billion KRW (a 14% increase from the previous year), ▲environmental performance was 62.6 billion KRW (a 4% increase), and ▲social performance was 31.2 billion KRW (an 80% increase).

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