Ubergizmo Discovery #4: ITS 2021 Top 3 Products

Ubergizmo was recently a media partner and one of the innovation awards judges for SMEs Innovative Technology Show 2021 or ITS 2021. We’re going to tell you which companies we selected as our Top 3. In the photo above, I was expressing how impressed I was with the nominees.

The physical ITS 2021 event was held at SETEC, a tradeshow and exhibition center located in the eastern part of Seoul’s Gangnam district.

Supported by Korea’s Ministry of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), the goal is to shed light on innovative products that could be successful worldwide. This year’s tagline is “K-innovation company at the starting point of the grand revolution.”

With about 200 products exposed, the local jury went through the first round of selection. We were then asked to pick three out of eleven based on Global Marketability, Innovation, and Competitiveness criteria.

Ubergizmo Discovery is a series that discovers innovators worldwide in partnership with technology events, incubators, accelerators, and local media.

#1 GFI Co., LTD

This company’s smart fire extinguisher is our favorite product of ITS 2021. It is more of a chemical-based product than an electronic one, but check this: it is a passive and stable compound that, upon heat activation, will release a fire extinguishing agent called KF-5-1-12.

The compound is stable and can be cut by the user in different shapes, then taped onto any surface. It is about as thick as double-sided tape. It can therefore be placed in any strategic location and even inside electric wall outlets. The same compound is also sold as a (para)cord that can be wrapped or hung.

It seems to work better in enclosed spaces, like electric panels, closets, safes, and more. Given enough quantities, the sky is the limit. Not only is it our top choice, but it’s also the grand winner of the show.

#2 Rope, Inc

Rope Inc’s Baton product is powered by a car’s cigarette lighter. It has a motion sensor capable of detecting when a vehicle accident occurs and calls emergency services with the proper GPS coordinates via the driver’s smartphone. The goal is to accelerate an eventual arrival to the hospital, well within the golden hour.

Additionally, the device can also analyze the driver’s everyday driving style, and some insurance companies find Baton’s “good driver” good enough to justify a discount. Even the government will provide perks such as parking discounts to good drivers.

Fortunately, grave accidents are rare, so Baton also helps with minor accidents by assisting the user in instantly connect with the car insurance.

#3 VPIX Medical Inc.

The VPIX EndoPix microscope could become a very efficient way for surgeons to analyze cancer cells during oncology surgery via in-vivo imaging, without biopsy. The real-time analysis would be the deciding factor as to whether the area is tumorous or not and if it should be removed. The alternative is to send a sample to a lab and wait for the results to come back. During that time, the patient remains under anesthesia.

The longer they wait and the riskier the surgery is, the longer the recovery time is. For that reason, it is always best for the analysis to be done asap to make the surgeries more efficient and less traumatic for patients.

So far, the first prototype is up and running and is undergoing another development iteration based on the doctors’ feedback. The next version should be ready “by the end of this year” For more tests. (video interview: VPIX on the ITS2021 show floor)

Conclusion

We’ve added ITS to the list of tradeshows we’d like to visit at some point, but the virtual option gave is a good glimpse of what it is about. It was not always easy to choose which product was more innovative, but we thought these three were remarkable.

Websites and direct video links are in the table below. Korean speakers can also check the new ITS Youtube channel. At ITS 2021, all the nominees were gathered in a smaller room to facilitate their interview by Aving media which asked each company to present itself in front of a camera.

Filed in Events. Read more about Innovation, Korea, Startups and Ubergizmo Discovery.