Takeaways:

  • Major South Korean steel giant POSCO adopted ICONLOOP’s DID-based ID verification system in its newly opened CHANGeUP GROUND incubator in Pohang.
  • South Korean political and business heavyweights got to experience the system first-hand. And apparently liked what they saw.
  • ICONLOOP will continue to work with POSCO on DID. And if you needed reminding, POSCO was already one of the world’s largest steelmakers, and it’s doing quite well for itself, having just posted record quarterly profits. It’s also a key player in South Korea’s science and technology sector, having established one of Asia’s top science and technology universities in POSTECH.

ICONLOOP has built a DID-based ID verification system for South Korean steel giant POSCO’s newly opened startup space in the southeastern industrial city of Pohang.

The South Korean blockchain development company announced Thursday that the DID system applies to both the new building itself and the companies that reside there.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, North Gyeongsang Province Governor Lee Cheol-woo, Rep. Kim Byong-wook, Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok, POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo and other major South Korean political and business figures attended Thursday’s tape-cutting ceremony for CHANGeUP GROUND, the largest startup incubation center in South Korea’s heavily industrialized southeast and one of the largest outside of the greater Seoul area.

The attendees got a first-hand introduction to ICONLOOP’s DID system during their tour of the new space. According to ICONLOOP, they took great interest in what they saw.

CHANGeUP GROUND has initially put the DID-based ID verification system to use in entry control, guest invitation and office automation device usage. However, it plans to expand use of the system throughout the complex, including reservations for meeting rooms and sleeping facilities and parking management apps.

The DID system will also enable researchers at nearby Pohang University of Science and Technology and the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology to enter and use the space with their own organizational IDs sans separate registrations.

ICONLOOP’s DID system lets CHANGeUP GROUND verify IDs in a no-contact environment and enables users to control their own personal information. That is to say, employees of the companies at CHANGeUP GROUND can prove who they are without turning over control of their personal information to CHANGeUP GROUND.

ICONLOOP JH Kim said the move would mark “the start of data distribution through DID” as more and more government organizations and companies are showing interest in user-centered data distribution. He said ICONLOOP would continue to work with POSCO and other relevant organizations to “create more leading examples of user-centered data distribution based on DID.“