Patent Office Announces 'National Safety Invention Challenge' for Public Servants' Ideas Submission

On the 17th, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that from April 17 to May 23, it will hold an idea contest for public officials in collaboration with the Korea Customs Service, the National Police Agency, the National Fire Agency, and the Korea Coast Guard as part of the ‘2025 National Safety Invention Challenge.’

The National Safety Invention Challenge, now in its eighth year, aims to secure public safety by discovering safety ideas related to disasters, accidents, and incidents based on field experience from public officials belonging to the Korea Customs Service, the National Police Agency, the National Fire Agency, and the Korea Coast Guard.

National Safety Invention Challenge Civil Servant Division Promotion Procedure (Draft). Provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office

Any public official or employee affiliated with the Korea Customs Service, the National Police Agency, the National Fire Agency, or the Korea Coast Guard can participate by submitting ideas related to national safety that can be immediately applied in the field. Idea submissions are accepted through KIPO’s online platform ‘Idea-ro.’

KIPO plans to select 24 outstanding ideas through expert evaluations in each field and then support the refinement of these ideas with intellectual property experts to enable patent applications.

After the final evaluation, awards will be decided and certificates and prize money, including the Speaker of the National Assembly Award, will be presented at the year-end ceremony. Furthermore, through follow-up measures such as exhibitions, promotions, and technology transfers, excellent ideas will be utilized in actual disaster, accident, and incident sites.

Last year, in the public official category of the National Safety Invention Challenge, Han Seonsu, a senior officer at the National Police Agency who invented the ‘Multifunctional Fingerprint Restorer’ capable of efficiently collecting fingerprints even in severely damaged or corroded conditions, won the grand prize (Speaker of the National Assembly Award).

For more detailed information about this year’s National Safety Invention Challenge, inquiries can be made through the Invention Promotion Office of the Korea Invention Promotion Association.

Kim Jeonggyun, Director of the Industrial Property Policy Bureau at KIPO, said, “We hope that many field ideas to protect public safety from disasters, accidents, and incidents will be discovered through this contest. KIPO will continue to collaborate with related ministries and agencies to ensure public safety based on intellectual property rights.”

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