Global Mobile Vision: A look at some exciting South Korean startups

Technology knows no boundaries. If Silicon Valley in the US can get our attention, then any corner of the world could be exciting. It all depends on the idea. We had the privilege to be invited by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) – a state-funded trade and investment promotion organisation operated by the Government of South Korea. Indians aren’t new to South Korean technology. Given the reach of LG, Samsung, Hyundai, and confectionary company Lotte (makers of Choco Pie), there’s a bit of Korea touching the lives of many Indians. We attended Global Mobile Vision 2015, organised by Kotra in the city of Goyang, close to capital Seoul. In addition to attending the event, we also had the honour of rating a list of South Korean startups that we setting up or intend to set up operations globally. In some cases even India. From a long list of startups, we identified our favourite three. In order to identify the winners, we relied on three core factors – innovation, customer appeal and potential to scale. And the list just went on and on. From vacuum powered window cleaners so that humans don’t have to risk lives cleaning skyscrapers, to 3D printed MRI results to give a realistic view of medical tests on human organs, we saw it all. [caption id=“attachment_283519” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] 3D printed report gives a realistic view of human organs. The yellow spot is the tumor to scale from the scan procedure report displayed on the tablet.[/caption] But when it came to ideas that excited consumers as products they would buy, we had a tough time  arriving at our decision. There were three that managed to scrape their way through and emerge as winners. Bronze prize – Tripino App For the bronze prize, the product that got our attention was Tripino. Youm Kwangyun, CEO, Tripino gave us a demo of what he set out to create with Tripino. According to him, there are many apps to create memories from your travel. But what makes Tripino different, is that it creates stories to share. It enables you to share stories with your friends, and in turn lets people read great stories. [caption id=“attachment_283516” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Youm Kwangyun, CEO, Tripino at winning the bronze prize at Global Mobile Vision 2015[/caption] All you need to do is just touch. A single touch tells Tripino to automatically create a journal of your travel. As someone who clicks a lot of pictures, we could relate to this problem. You set out on a trip and click a 100 pictures, only to realise, you have either forgotten or are confused about the details of the place or food or person in the image. Tripino lets you add instant comments and notes that get packaged together as you publish your story. You can add notes, photos, videos and share it on Facebook and Twitter as well. All you need to do is swipe and touch! To tell your story, simply select dates on the Calendar, and leave the rest to Tripino. It will gather all the content you generate and package it into a beautiful story and publish it, just the way you want to. Youm prefers calling it a ‘Triptory’ or a story journal made from your trip. You can also view Triptories based on category or topic and even location. While version 1 is currently available, we saw the demo for version 2, but Youm is working on the next version already. He’s planning a lot around the whole experience of travel with Tripino. We wish him well in his journey! Silver prize – Netboard Smart Classroom In a country such as India, education gets our attention. We have the brightest minds, and some come from really humble backgrounds. We’re always happy if someone does his or her bit to enable better ways of teaching and imparting education. As individuals constantly pondering over technological innovations, we always wondered how tomorrow’s classrooms would be. But the advent of technology always seemed to make education more elite. [caption id=“attachment_283517” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Microcomputing Ltd. won the Silver prize for the Netboard Smart Classroom[/caption] What about the poor? And those who don’t have access to too much of infrastructure? We were pondering over these questions, and that’s when we met Microcomputing Co. Ltd. This solution is targeted at teachers and the classroom and enables teachers to impart education by exploiting technology, yet not requiring teachers to go through a steep learning curve. Since teachers are comfortable with a pen and paper, that’s exactly what they need to use. Markings they jot down on printed papers are reflected on an overhead projector. And the whole courseware could be used over and over again. A unique printed pattern on the page is recognized by the pen. Thereby the system understands which textbook is being used, and will accordingly display the notes for that specific class automatically. Gold prize – Ripplebuds stereo headsets This was an interesting concept. And although the concept isn’t new, what caught our attention is this product has been crafted to answer a very pressing practical problem. India has noisy roads, especially honking and all the various sounds we hear from people yelling to vendors working to get our attention. Could you possibly think of getting on a phone call amidst all the noise around? We didn’t either. That’s when the representatives of Haebora, the company behind Ripplebuds stereo headsets demonstrated the Ripplebuds stereo headsets. [caption id=“attachment_283518” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Seonggil Jeon, China Market Manager, Haebora[/caption] What’s unique is that the headset has a special mic built into the earpiece that is inserted in your ear canal. Now, here’s the interesting twist! As you get on a call using the earphone, the mic picks up sounds you speak. From the ear canal, rather than from the words spoken through your mouth. The difference here is that an external mic would also pick ambient noise. This sound picked up from within your head, quite literally, is sent to your phone. So the next time you’re speaking with your boss, in the middle of a party, s/he would think you’re working hard staying up late in office on a Friday night. Haebora plans to make the Ripplebud available starting at $50 for mono and $100 for a stereo headphone, according to Du Sik Shin and Tommy Ko who were present to demo the product. As we said, any corner of the world could be exciting. We’re waiting to hear of more ideas from India. If you’re aware of exciting Indian tech start-ups, please share them with us us at nash.david@web18.in.