On Nov. 11, at the Coex in Gangnam, Seoul, the largest domestic startup festival, 'ComeUp 2024,' featured a climate tech promotional booth. Displayed in one corner was a water purification robot that floats on the sea, sucking up pollutants.
Kim Ji-soo, planning manager of the startup 'ShayCo,' noted, "We supplied to the Korea Marine Environment Corporation, the Korea Coast Guard, and the Masan Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries, and we also have export records to Indonesia."
The startup 'iChemist,' which possesses digital twin technology that replicates the real world in the digital realm based on artificial intelligence, also set up a booth and created experiential content featuring Daegu's Imha Lake, allowing visitors to enjoy it. This method shows the past and present and visually demonstrates what the future could look like if preserved well.
A company representative said, "Many corporations, including the Korea Water Resources Corporation, are actively seeking digital twin content for educational purposes to raise civic awareness."
This year at ComeUp, 'Sustainable Innovation by Startup' (SIS) was highlighted as an important topic.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the organizer, announced that various programs will be operated around the theme of SIS, including a promotional booth, a conference, and reverse pitching, in which large corporations and public enterprises propose cooperation plans to startups.
The idea is to find sustainable solutions to climate crises through the innovative ideas and technologies of deep tech startups that delve deeply into specific technologies.
In addition, there were participants in the promotional booth such as LD Carbon, which produces tire reinforcement materials (carbon black) and alternative oil (pyrolysis oil) from waste tires through anaerobic pyrolysis technology, and PiQuant, which collaborates with Hyundai Engineering & Construction to create a spectroscopy-based air quality management Internet of Things system.
Han Sang-yeob, CEO of Soopung Ventures, which focuses on investing in climate tech startups, emphasized, "Achieving global carbon neutrality must be done with technologies that do not currently exist," and added, "Blind research and development is necessary."
There were also calls for government policy support. In response, Minister Oh Young-ju said, "Climate tech is a key promising industry that can achieve both carbon neutrality and global market entry at the same time," and pledged to expand policy support and cooperation opportunities to increase the number of climate tech startups contributing to solving the climate crisis.