A space for people to realize their dreams
Songdo Internet of Things(IoT) DIY Center
Writer Kim Ji-suk
Photographer Jang Hyeon-seon
Sometimes, a person might think it will be great to have a product like this.
But it is usually far too difficult to realize such ideas because of the huge development costs required. To turn imagination into reality, Songdo Internet of Things (IoT) DIY Center offers an a conducive environment and material costs for product development. We recently visited the center.
Located in the Songdo BIT zone, Internet of Things (IoT) DIY Center was opened July 16th. The two-story center is where people dreaming about developing new products such as university students, ordinary citizens and prep entrepreneurs passionately work at.
The center’s environment allows various objects to be connected to each other without human interference. The venue is based on a technology of attaching sensors to objects and exchanging real-time data through the Internet, said Park Eun-yeong of the IoT Development Support Team. She introduced the Idea Hub Space on the first floor, which had on display many IoT devices that have been developed.
"This product is called the ’happy fork.' Eating meals with this fork tells of one’s eating habits. For an instance, if you eat too fast, the fork gives a warning sound to tell you to slow down. The fork also measure the amount of food you eat. The information gathered during your meals are collected and sent to smartphones or the Internet so that you can see them later," Park said.
Another example of IoT was lighting. As Park touched her smartphone, the color of lighting slowly turned from orange to pink.
"The sensor inside the lighting recognizes the order made by the smartphone to change the lighting’s color. Not only the color, but also the brightness and power of the lighting can be controlled."
As shown above, IoT allows objects around us to communicate
The center also has a co-work space, opened a lab and runs a factory to allow people with creative ideas of IoT to realize their dreams. The lab is a user-oriented space for innovation where people can conveniently work together in developing new products and testing them. The lab offers measureing devices and tools, as well as mentoring and consulting services to allow ideas to turn into real products.
The factory has infrastructure for one-stop technical support, from planning and designing smart and new products to making prototypes just before mass production. Equipment such as 3-D design tools, industrial 3-D printers and 3-D scanners are prepared at the factory.
To activate DIY, the center provides practical training programs such as those on application control and sensor utilization through DIY development kits. In addition, it also subsidizes fees and event expenses for participating in conferences and seminars held by online DIY communities of portal sites such as Naver, aiming to promote community activities.
For employees or (prep) entrepreneurs with ideas for new products in IoT, an educational support program provides selective expert training necessary for developing new products, as well as for the DIY development environment, manufacturing expenses and support for developing new products for each team to find and foster promising start-ups.
Another project provides the material costs necessary for developing smart and new products. The government support fund for material costs is about 99 million KRW, and through this fund, 16 teams are working on projects at the center. Each team comprises three to five people, ranging from university students to employees of related companies. Receiving free support, the teams are seeking to develop new products, and their products will be exhibited and assessed in November.
The center also provides step-by-step support for start-ups with creative ideas so that they can bring their ideas to life, commercialize their products and even export them.
Inquiries : ☎ 720-8214
