SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Corning was recently awarded the grand prize in the Seoul Global Challenge 2019-2020 for its Corning Air Purification System. The R&D competition, hosted by Seoul Metropolitan City and Seoul Business Agency, aimed to identify affordable, innovative technologies to improve the air quality in Seoul’s subway system, which serves upwards of 7 million people a day on average. Corning will use the 500 million Korean Won, or approximately $450,000 dollars, grand prize to further develop its airborne particulate matter reduction technology.

Dr. Haeng-Hee Lee, president and General Manager, Corning Korea Company Ltd., accepted the award. “This award demonstrates the effectiveness of our technology to reduce particulate matter in the air, even in sealed underground subway systems where it is especially difficult to control air quality,” Lee said.

Poor air quality is a growing global concern, especially in urban environments where it can be difficult to control and reduce fine dust particles that could pose numerous health risks for humans. Corning’s Air Purification System helps mitigate this issue by funneling polluted air through our proprietary ceramic honeycomb filters that trap particulate matter, releasing clean air into the environment.

Corning’s technology was selected as one of ten final candidates in the competition that kicked off in August 2019. In total, more than 100 products and solutions from eight countries were submitted for consideration, but only ten finalists, including Corning, installed their products in various locations across Seoul’s extensive subway system in early January.

Corning, in collaboration with Korean company SNS Corporation, installed its Air Purification System in two HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition) rooms in Seoul’s Sangsu Station to supply clean air to the subway platform. Once installed, the Seoul Global Challenge evaluation committee conducted a month-long on-site evaluation to judge all the finalists based on the performance, effects and economic feasibility of their products and solutions.

Alex Lee, manager, New Business Development, Corning Korea, led this effort working with Liming Wang, director, Corning Research Center China and program manager, Corning Air Purification System and his team. “I’m proud of the hard work this team put in to complete the five-step evaluation process. It was quite an accomplishment, and I appreciate their efforts,” Lee said.

At the end of the evaluation period, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Corning’s Air Purification System demonstrated the highest level of particulate matter reduction. As a result, Seoul Metropolitan City and Metro are considering applying Corning’s Air Purification System in 11 stations this year.

“We are honored to receive this award and look forward to continuing to advance this technology to help clean the air we breathe and improve people’s lives,” said Wang.

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