[Seoul Finance – Reporter Park Sooda]
Hoban Group announced on the 26th that it held the final presentation and awards ceremony for the “2024 Hoban Innovation Technology Contest (2024 HIT Challenge)” on the 25th at Hoban Park in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

This year’s contest saw participation from 194 companies, marking the highest competition rate in the event’s history.
The Grand Prize went to Allink Co., Ltd., which proposed a “mobile NFC tag–based access and information management solution” that received high praise from the judges.
Hoban Group, including Hoban Construction, plans to review the adoption of this solution for entry and security management systems across its offices and construction sites.

The Excellence Awards were presented to the following companies:

• DoWhat — Smart hotel integration platform (Top Excellence Award)

• GeoGrid — Building water quality improvement and monitoring system (Excellence Award)

• Aron AIT — Integrated panel utilizing heat pumps for high-efficiency heating/cooling and noise reduction (Excellence Award)

The winning companies will receive a total of approximately 400 million KRW in prize money and commercialization support funds.
They will also gain opportunities for collaboration with Hoban Group, including:

• Technology testbed access

• Joint development and proof-of-concept (PoC) support

• Investment and TIPS program linkage

• Global market expansion support

• Public relations and market development consulting

In his opening remarks, Chairman Kim Sun-kyu of Hoban Group stated:

“Hoban Group will continue to support the growth of the winning companies, and we sincerely thank the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, and the Seoul Business Agency for their steadfast support of innovation and collaboration.”

Source: Seoul Finance (http://www.seoulfn.com)