HanmiGlobal and Ddaddeuthan Donghaeng Hold Final Round of Disability Inclusion Contest Project

HanmiGlobal announced on the 13th that it held the final event of the disability inclusion contest project "6th Sonjabaejullae" in collaboration with the social welfare corporation Ddaddeuthan Donghaeng.

Beom Myeong-yoon, CEO of Watwi Care, the grand prize winner of the inclusive disability contest "6th Shall We Hold Hands," and Lee Kwang-jae, executive director of Warm Together, are posing for a commemorative photo. / Photo by Hanmi Global

This project was planned to contribute to creating a disability-inclusive society by discovering and supporting business ideas that alleviate inconveniences faced by people with disabilities in the job creation and social service sectors. It has been held annually since 2017 with sponsorship from HanmiGlobal.

At the final competition held the previous day at D.CAMP Front1 in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, each team presented their business models completed through document and on-site evaluations and coaching. Judging was based on purposefulness, innovativeness, sustainability, and feasibility, with one grand prize team, two excellence award teams, and three encouragement award teams selected through evaluations by judges and an audience panel.

The grand prize was awarded to "WhatWeCare," which developed a smart hearing loop for transportation-vulnerable individuals. The smart hearing loop is a device developed to improve accessibility to multi-use facilities for the elderly and people with visual and hearing impairments. It complements the shortcomings of existing hearing loop systems and integrates the LE Audio system. The device is wall-mounted in a frame style for easy installation and has been installed at bus stop shelters and welfare facilities for the hearing impaired in Seongdong-gu.

The excellence awards went to "Invisible," which trains and employs visually impaired perfumers to develop customized scents for customers, and "Daehak-euro Itda," which provides services for disabled students to enter universities. Ddaddeuthan Donghaeng plans to provide approximately 80 million KRW in project realization funds to the winning teams and support tailored mentoring for their sustainable growth.

Kim Jong-hoon, director of Ddaddeuthan Donghaeng, said, "The disability inclusion contest project is meaningful as it continuously supports companies and organizations striving to alleviate inconveniences faced by people with disabilities," adding, "We hope this project will continue to help create a warm world without disabilities."

Meanwhile, over the past six years, Ddaddeuthan Donghaeng has selected and supported a total of 12 teams through this project, including "Goyohan Taxi," which employs hearing-impaired taxi drivers, and "HandSpeak," which plans and produces sign language cultural and artistic content. Founded in 2010, Ddaddeuthan Donghaeng is a purely non-profit organization conducting activities for people with disabilities and international development cooperation.

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