Boryung Announces Winners of the 3rd Humans In Space Challenge

Paving the Way as a Global Leader in Space Healthcare

- Introducing of a new funding model to support space experiments and strengthen research in space healthcare

- Hosted the final round of the Humans In Space Challenge at the 75^th International Astronautical Congress

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On December 18, Boryung announced the final winners of the 3^rd Humans In Space (HIS) Challenge.

Now in its 3^rd 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.

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.

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 space environment. Among the finalists, 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 HIS Catalyst group. Both groups will receive support to advance 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 a highly competitive field.   

A total of 56 judges from esteemed organizations, including NASA, the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES), the Harvard Center for Space Medicine Research, Axiom Space, and Redwire, conducted the application and final evaluation. In October, 11 startups and researchers advanced to the final round and competed in the final stage at the 75^th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in Milan, Italy. A panel of 22 judges selected 4 teams of the final winners and 2 teams of the HIS Catalyst through the evaluation based on importance, scalability, feasibility, and the validity of the expected outcomes.   

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 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.

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. Through this investment, Dr. Chiu's experiment will be launched into space within the next 18 months.

In the HIS Catalyst group, Scott Ritter from the German Aerospace Agency (DLR), who developed a portable diagnostic tool for Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), and Dr. JangKeun Kim from South Korea, who is studying genetic changes in microgravity, were selected. They will undergo a one-year preparation process to meet the requirements of the OLF category, and will be eligible to receive OLF support if they fulfill these conditions. 

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.

Jack Lim, the Executive Director 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."

Meanwhile, at the 75^th 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.

SOURCE Boryung