KT-Shinhan Bank Selects 10 Outstanding Ideas in Internal Venture Contest

In-house Venture Contest '2023UNIQUERS'
Over 300 Ideas in AI and Various Fields
Business Advancement and In-house Venture Support

KT is joining hands with Shinhan Bank to discover innovative new businesses.

Hong Haecheon, Executive Director of Technology Management at KT Convergence Technology Institute, is greeting participants during the second PT evaluation of the '2023 UNIQUERS' contest. (Photo by KT)

On the 16th, KT announced, "We plan to support the commercialization of innovative new business ideas submitted to the '2023 UNIQUERS' contest with Shinhan Bank by nurturing them as in-house venture companies." This is the second time the contest has been held since last year. Over 300 ideas from various fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), commerce, proptech, mobility, and robotics were submitted. KT and Shinhan Bank selected 10 outstanding ideas through two rounds of evaluation.

The outstanding ideas include ▲pet care ▲foreign language-capable store guidance ▲SOHO business sales transfer ▲urban rooftop garden creation ▲and nearby home storage solutions. Four ideas were selected from KT, four from Shinhan Bank, and two from joint teams. The two companies will support advanced processes such as education by professional accelerators and dedicated mentoring. In August, they plan to provide incubation to help the ideas (teams) that pass the final evaluation establish themselves as in-house venture companies.

'UNIQUERS' is an in-house venture contest jointly conducted by KT and Shinhan Bank since last year. The KT 'Annyeong Team,' which won the grand prize last year with the idea 'Life’s Final Journey & Guide,' is currently undergoing incubation at KT Convergence Technology Institute. The 'AI-Phishing Hunter Team,' which won the excellence award, is promoting the commercialization of an AI-based voice phishing prevention service through a company-wide task force (TF).

Kim Ihan, Executive Director of KT Convergence Technology Institute, said, "KT has partnered with Shinhan Bank again this year to discover in-house ventures with entrepreneurial spirit that will lead Korea’s digital transformation (DX). We will discover innovative new business ideas that go beyond the telecommunications and financial industries to help improve customers’ lives."

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