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Boryung Announces Winners of the 3rd Humans In Space Challenge Paving the Way as a Global Leader in Space Healthcare

2024-12-18
<p>On December 18, Boryung announced the final winners of the 3rd Humans In Space (HIS) Challenge.</p><p>Now in its 3rd year, the HIS Challenge is a global space healthcare competition initiated in 2022. The program aims to gather innovative ideas to address healthcare challenges arising during space exploration and solve healthcare problems on Earth by leveraging the space environment. Outstanding teams are selected and offered investment opportunities through this initiative.</p><p>This year, the HIS Challenge introduced significant changes to its prize structure compared to last year. While it provided equity investments for winning startups and research funding for research teams in 2023, it has expanded its offerings to include Orbital Launch Funding (OLF) in addition to equity investments this year. This investment structure is designed to attract innovative space healthcare research ideas to the Humans In Space platform and drive orbital experimentation. strategy attracts demand for space healthcare research through the HIS platform and stimulates experiments through targeted investments.</p><p>The OLF aims to provide selected teams, regardless of their application type, the opportunity to send their experiments to the International Space Station (ISS) for testing in an actual  real space environment. Among the finalists addressing critical topics in space healthcare, teams capable of conducting space experiments within a short-term period (18 months) are selected as the final winners. Meanwhile, others needing additional preparation are selected as the those who require additional preparation time are incorporated into the HIS Catalyst group. Both groups will receive support to advance  be supported in preparing for their space experiments. This year, the OLF category attracted over 70 teams from 11 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, highlighting showcasing a highly competitive field.   </p><p>A total of 56 judges from esteemed organizations, including NASA, the French Institute forof Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES), the Harvard Center for Space Medicine Research, Axiom Space, and Redwire, conducted the application and final evaluation. In October, the 11 startups and researchers advanced to the final round and competed in the final stage at the 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Milan, Italy. A panel of 22 judges selected the 4 teams of the final winners and the 2 teams of the HIS Catalyst through the evaluation based on the necessity of their research objectivesimportance, scalability, feasibility, and the validity of the expected outcomes.   </p><p>In the equity investment group, ▲ Exobiosphere, a Luxembourg-based startup providing services to validate drug candidates using microgravity; ▲ Prometheus Life Technologies, a Swiss-based startup producing high-quality organoids utilizing microgravity in space; ▲ Ejenta, a U.S.-based startup offering AI-powered remote health monitoring and diagnostic solutions for astronauts, will receive USD 50,000 in funding, respectively.</p><p>In the OLF group, Dr. Charles Chiu's team from the University of California, San Francisco, developing diagnostic solutions for infectious diseases in space, was selected to receive up to USD 250,000 in funding. and Through this investment, Dr. Chiu’s experiment will be launched plans to send experiments into space within the next 18 months.</p><p>In the HIS Catalyst group, ▲ Dr. Scott Ritter from the German Aerospace Agency (DLR), who developed a portable diagnostic tool for monitoring Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), and ▲ Dr. JangKeun Kim from South Korea, who is studying genetic changeseffects in microgravity, were selected. They will undergo a one-year preparation process to meet the requirements of the OLF category, and they will be eligible to receive OLF support if they fulfill these conditions. </p><p>Teams selected for equity investment and OLF will receive funding tailored to their specific conditions to accelerate their space business and research. All selected teams, including those in the HIS Catalyst group, will attend the HIS Accelerator Program, which provides mentorship and technical support to advance their research and prepare for space experiments. Moreover, they will gain opportunities to collaborate with various partners within the HIS ecosystem.</p><p>Jack Lim, the Executive Director Head of Boryung's Strategic Investment Division, stated, 'As we operate the 3rd year of the HIS Challenge program, we have observed both the program's expansion and the increasing professionalism and technical expertise of its applicants.' He added, 'This year's program holds significant meaning as we collaborated with a panel of judges specializing in space healthcare and engaged with high-caliber researchers and entrepreneurs dedicated to solving critical problems. With growing interest and expectations for this program within the space healthcare industry, we are committed to building a global ecosystem for space healthcare.'</p><p>Meanwhile, at the 75th IAC, Boryung featured an engaging Astronaut Talk Session with Koichi Wakata, the Japanese astronaut with the most spaceflights, who shared insights on space healthcare and received the Creative Booth Award for its innovative exhibit showcasing space medicine and healthcare advancements. Furthermore, Boryung signed MOUs with key partners, including Intuitive Machines and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), to advance space healthcare research and solidify its role in fostering a global space healthcare ecosystem.</p><blockquote><figure class='image'><img src='/img/DATA/attachFiles/file/Editor/2024/12/20/698be64e-d710-4e8c-b69f-13dc5c91978e'><figcaption>(image: A panel of judges is evaluating the final round of the HIS Challenge held in 2024 IAC, Milan, Italy)</figcaption></figure></blockquote><blockquote><figure class='image'><img src='/img/DATA/attachFiles/file/Editor/2024/12/20/87b18776-8afb-494b-9b0d-1a29e5e9c7e5'><figcaption>(image: Prometheus Life Technologies, the final winner of the 3rd HIS Challenge, is presenting at the final stage)</figcaption></figure><p> </p></blockquote><p> </p>
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