KGCCI hosts the KGCCI Innovation Awards 2022

(Seoul, November 24, 2022) The Korea-German Chamber of Commerce (KGCCI, President & CEO Martin Henkelmann) successfully held the ‘8th KGCCI Innovation Awards’ ceremony at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Hotel in Seoul.

The winners of the ‘KGCCI Innovation Awards’ are igus Korea, CODIT, and Siemens Energy Korea. The ‘KGCCI Innovation Awards’, which marks its eighth anniversary, was initiated with the purpose of showcasing innovative products, technologies and business strategies of Korean and German companies.

The candidate screening and evaluation were based on four criteria – degree of innovation (novelty of idea, creativity of concept, etc.), proven in the market (tangible market success, joint development activity, etc.), influence on company (positioning in market, strategic move towards future markets, etc.), and benefit for society (benefit for people’s health, education, environment) – by a panel of six Korean and German judges.

Hyun-Nam Park, Chairperson of KGCCI, emphasized, “The award winners and associated representatives have dedicated themselves to innovation in Korea and have positive impacts on Korean society.” Dr. Martin Henkelmann, President & CEO of KGCCI, said, “The award winning companies and many strong applications demonstrate in the best way possible that  German and Korean companies are vibrant and lively when it comes to innovation.”

For the winner of the 'Innovation in Business' award for 'The igus:Bike', Peter Mattonet, who represents igus Korea and the director of e-chain systems said, “As igus wants to set new standards for sustainable mobility around the world, we are very proud that the committee of KGCCI chooses us and the igus:bike project for this honorable innovation award. The award gives us a chance to spread the ideas we experienced in the consumer goods industry in Korea and around the world.” He added, “Started in Germany, we also rolled out a variety of eco-friendly green projects, from planting trees in Korea to recycling plastics via ‘plastic 2 oil.’ We will continue to do our best to ensure that our high-performance polymer technology can be recycled as a sustainable innovation.”

CODIT's founder and CEO, Ji Eun Chung said "It is truly an honour and delight to receive innovation in digitalization prize from AHK(KGCCI), CODIT team has worked tremendously hard to bring a complete transformation of government affairs and compliance industry". "CODIT will continue to bring technology into this sector so that we can offer a smarter working system to enterprises around the world, which in turn can help professionals achieve more with much less resources."

Lee KyeongHo, Project Management Manager of ‘Innovation in Sustainability’ winner Siemens Energy Korea, stated “We are delighted to receive this award in recognition of the high-efficiency and the fuel flexibility of HL class gas turbine, which is the most advanced gas turbine of Siemens Energy. Also, it’s very proud that the world’s first gas turbine , which can operate on either 100% LNG or 100% LPG, will be equipped in Korea.” He added “Siemens Energy will continue to contribute to the energy transition of Korean companies by increasing the H2 mixed firing ratio of HL class gas turbine.”

Also, there was a pitch competition, supported by the German Entrepreneurship Asia, at the awards. Three German startups - Cynteract, Future Demand, and Sugartrends - had time to pitch their ideas for the Korean market, and the audience voted for the winner in real-time. As a result, Cynteract won the on-site pitch competition with its intelligent glove with sensors for patients.

2022 KGCCI Innovation Awards Sponsors

The KGCCI expressed its sincerest gratitude to the sponsors who made the 8th KGCCI Innovation Awards possible.

•    Leading Innovation! Sponsors: Ansan City, Continental Automotive Korea, Siemens Ltd. Seoul
•    Creating Innovation Sponsors: Deutsche Bank, Eppendorf Korea, Henkel Korea, Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency
•    Supporting Innovation Sponsors: BASF Korea, Lufthansa Korea, Merck Korea, Sartorius Korea

2022 KGCCI Innovation Awards Winners

igus Korea was awarded in the ‘Innovation in Business’ category. “From ocean plastics to motion plastics”, the ‘igus:Bike’ is a project to make bicycles using plastics wastes, contributing to the plastic recycling economy. Almost all parts required for a bicycle are made from igus plastics, which do not require lubrication and are highly durable or could be produced out of recycled plastics, like for example the frame. The project partner, bike manufacturer, MTRL, is planning to produce later models, including e-bikes and smart plastic bikes that can calculate the remaining bike lifetime, starting with product launch in early 2023. MTRL is also planning manufacturing facilities near plastic landfills around the world and igus already launched a platform where other bike manufacturers can find lubrication free solutions for their own products.

CODIT was awarded in the ‘Innovation in Digitalization’ category. With deep learning technology, CODIT's platform offers customization and recommendations to fit the needs of individual enterprises on legislative, regulatory and policy changes that are relevant for them. CODIT's platform helps government affairs and legal professionals to systematically manage critical regulatory issues and policy matters in one place and share relevant updates within the enterprise in real-time. Through its unique neural machine translation technology, legislative bills, press releases, even national assembly minutes are translated and in English.

Siemens Energy Korea was awarded in the ‘Innovation in Sustainability’ category. 9000HL-class gas turbine is Siemens Energy's most advanced gas turbine. Derived from proven technology, it’s offering more than 64% combined cycle efficiency. In addition, HL-class gas turbines include fuel flexibility, which can operate on either 100% LNG or 100% LPG. It also has the capability to burn up to 50 vol% of hydrogen, and will be ready for upcoming 100% H2 configurations via further R&D. The Ulsan GPS CCPP will be equipped with 2 units of HL-class gas turbines, which is also the world’s first dual fuel gas turbine capable of operating on both 100% LNG and 100% LPG. In an increasingly volatile energy landscape, this innovative dual fuel capabilities also ensure greater security and resilience.  In addition, it’s expected to contribute to reduce carbon footprint with the high-efficiency of HL-class gas turbine.

Company Introduction of 2022 KGCCI Innovation Awards Winners

igus GmbH develops and produces motion plastics since 1964. These lubrication-free, high-performance polymers improve technology and reduce costs wherever things move. In energy supplies, highly flexible cables, plain and linear bearings as well as lead screw technology made of tribo-polymers, igus is the worldwide market leader. Based in Cologne, Germany, igus represented in 31 countries and employs 4,500 people across the globe. In 2021, igus generated a turnover of €961 million. Research in the industry's largest test laboratories constantly yields innovations and more security for users. 243,000 articles are available from stock and the service life can be calculated online. In recent years, the company has expanded by creating internal startups, e.g. for lubrication free ball bearings, robot drives, 3D printing, the RBTX platform for Lean Robotics and intelligent "smart plastics" for Industry 4.0. Among the most important environmental investments are the "chainge" programme – recycling of used e-chains - and the participation in an enterprise that produces oil from plastic waste.

CODIT is policy and regulatory data intelligence platform designed to digitally transform the way enterprises and institutions monitor legislative changes, policy trends, and stakeholder developments. Using CODIT, enterprises can stay on top of critical regulatory changes with real-time alerts through its patented technology. Within 2 years, CODIT has acquired more than 1,000 clients including global big tech companies, government institutions and unicorn startups.

Siemens Energy is the world’s leading energy technology companies. With its portfolio of products, solutions and services, Siemens Energy covers almost the entire energy value chain – from power generation and transmission to storage. The portfolio includes conventional and renewable energy technology, such as gas and steam turbines, hybrid power plants operated with hydrogen, and power generators and transformers. A majority stake in the listed company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) makes Siemens Energy a global market leader for renewable energies. An estimated one-sixth of the electricity generated worldwide is based on technologies from Siemens Energy. Siemens Energy employs around 91,000 people worldwide in more than 90 countries and generated revenue of €28.5 billion in fiscal year 2021.