Using AI Technology to Solve Energy and Social Issues: SK Innovation to Nurture 10 Youth Startup Teams

Final 10 Teams Selected for AI Impact Solution
Discovering AI Solutions for Challenges in Energy, Environment, and Care

On July 15, SK Innovation announced that it has selected 10 youth startup teams aiming to solve energy and social issues using artificial intelligence (AI) technology and will officially begin providing support for their development.

SK Innovation held a kickoff and bootcamp session the previous day at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, for the finalists of its "AI Impact Solution" program.

"AI Impact Solution" is a program designed to discover and nurture startup teams with solutions based on AI technology that address energy and social challenges. The program is hosted and sponsored by SK Innovation, organized by Qnesti Foundation, and supported by the Community Chest of Korea. Applications were accepted from May 11 to June 12. After screening by experts in energy, AI and technology, business development and investment, as well as social impact, 10 final teams were selected.

The selected teams proposed AI solutions aimed at resolving various social challenges, including improving energy efficiency in AI data centers, reducing carbon emissions, and addressing issues in care, safety, environment, mobility, and education. Their ideas included improving inefficiencies in battery recycling processes, reducing heat and noise emissions from data centers, analyzing early-stage rare cancer diagnosis data, and real-time digital sign language generation technology—all of which demonstrate strong potential for real-world application.

During the bootcamp, which started the previous day, participants formulated execution plans for proof of concept (PoC) projects to be carried out over the next four months, and refined their approaches for commercialization. The teams attended special lectures on AI technology and business and participated in solution pitching sessions to review and refine their business design strategies.

At the AI and technology special lecture, Lee Haegon, Professor at Yonsei University's Department of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Advanced Computing, delivered a presentation on "Success Conditions and Implementation Strategies Learned Through AI PoC Case Studies." He addressed how to set verifiable PoC scopes, build core hypotheses, and design validation indicators. In the business special lecture, Moonkyu Kim, independent director at CNTTech, discussed "Impact Business Models in the AI Era," covering how to define customers, beneficiaries, and application environments, establish models for sustainable operations, and set directions for measuring impact. In the pitching session, each team presented their problem definition, development stage, and PoC plan, then received and offered feedback to assess the feasibility of commercialization.

SK Innovation plans to provide one-on-one mentoring programs with experts in AI and technology, business, and impact fields to the selected teams through October. Notably, in AI and technology, distinguished domestic AI scholars in areas such as physical perception AI and multimodal AI, as well as experienced AI professionals from SK Innovation’s AX Division, will participate as mentors to help advance each team’s AI solutions.

At the achievement sharing event, "Demo Day," scheduled for November, participating teams will present the results from their proof-of-concept projects, and the top three teams will be chosen based on their performance. These outstanding teams will receive further support, including assistance in advancing their business models and securing impact investment.

Chung-sik Kang, Vice President of SK Innovation, emphasized, "AI is now a key tool for solving complex social problems such as energy efficiency, carbon reduction, care, safety, education, and mobility. SK Innovation will actively support the participating teams so their technologies can be validated in real-world settings and translated into social value."

Soonyeol Lee, CEO of Qnesti, commented, "We will provide comprehensive support throughout all stages, from proof-of-concept design to commercialization and impact assessment, to ensure that these technologies and ideas can lead to tangible social change."

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