The Ministry of Science and ICT and KISTEP co-hosted the opening ceremony of ‘2021 Social Tech Fair Opening Ceremony: Social Problem Solving R&D Performance Technology Briefing Session’ at L Tower on November 24 (Wed).

The event was broadcast live online in compliance with quarantine rules and can be viewed again through the social problem-solving platform YouTube channel. The social tech fair started with the opening ceremony, and technical briefing sessions lasted for three days, from 13:00 to 16:15 online.

The opening ceremony of the social tech fair began with a welcoming speech by Kyung-soo Lee (head of the Science and Technology Innovation Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT) and the opening speech by Sang-seon Kim (president of KISTEP)

In the special lecture, Byung-gun Kim, director at Korea Institute of Procurement (KIP), presented social R&D's public and innovation procurement plan, and Jung-tae Kim, CEO of MYSC, discussed social R&D on the perspectives of acceleration of impact investment. In addition, to introduce public-private cooperation in the social R&D field, the lecture was conducted with the presentation of Dong-woo Kang, CEO of ARTWA, and Hyung-soo Kim, CEO of Tree Planet.

▲ Kyungsoo Lee, head of Science and Technology Innovation Division at The Ministry of Science and ICT

Kyungsoo Lee, head of Science and Technology Innovation Division at The Ministry of Science and ICT, said in a welcoming speech, "The government also agrees that efforts to solve these problems through science and technology, such as global technology hegemony competition and carbon neutrality due to the climate crisis, have become more important than ever,” and he added, "We will make efforts to create a virtuous cycle ecosystem in which the achievements, generated by social R&D solve problems through innovative companies and social ventures.”

▲ Sang-seon Kim, president of KISTEP

▲ Byung-gun Kim, director at Korea Institute of Procurement (KIP)

Along with the concept of public procurement, Byung-gun Kim introduced the challenges that we face along changes in the role of public procurement.

The presentation by Kim was concluded with a policy suggestion that innovation in technology and public services should be formed in a virtuous cycle structure in order for researchers' R&D performance to be applied to the lives of the people.

▲ Jung-tae Kim, CEO of MYSC

He explained what social venture groups mean as R&D subjects in solving social problems, and stressed that investment, R&D, and social ventures are possible when they are aligned and intersected together in order to solve social problems efficiently.

▲ Dong-woo Kang, CEO of ARTWA

Dong-woo Kang, CEO of ARTWA, introduced that ARTWA is a social venture company that wants to solve water quality environment problems through AI and robots, and explained the process of cooperating with ETRI from technology transfer to commercialization.

▲ Hyungsoo Kim, CEO of Tree Planet

Hyungsoo Kim, CEO of Tree Planet, said he is pushing for a cooperative project to restore biodiversity on the Korean Peninsula using flower pots with automatic water supply functions, and expects various public institutions to continue to carry out programs to inform citizens of beneficial policies.

The technical briefing session was held online from 13:00 to 16:15 from November 24 (Wed) to November 26 (Fri). On the 24th, a technical briefing session will include the fields of health and living safety, while on the 25th disaster and living safety were discussed. On the last day, a session in the fields of residential transportation and environment was held.