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Duksung Women's University team wins top AI competition prize for small business climate platform

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Duksung Women's University's 'Green Legacy' team won the top prize at the '2026 HUSS Convergence Camp AI Competition' for their climate and energy diagnosis platform for small business owners.
  • The 'GreenCheck' platform uses AI to analyze carbon emissions and energy grades from utility bills, comparing them to national and industry averages.
  • The team's project was praised for its practical application, offering tailored carbon reduction strategies and assistance with public support programs for small businesses.

A team from Duksung Women's University has secured the top honor at the '2026 HUSS Convergence Camp AI Competition,' demonstrating innovative use of artificial intelligence to address environmental challenges faced by small businesses. The 'Green Legacy' team clinched the Minister of Education Award, the competition's highest accolade, for their project titled 'GreenCheck: An integrated climate and energy self-diagnosis platform for small business owners, starting with a single utility bill.'

The HUSS Convergence Camp is a nationwide interdisciplinary educational program involving students from 55 universities across 11 consortia. The AI competition, a key component of the 'Insight' track, challenged participants to develop practical solutions for societal issues using AI technology. The 'GreenCheck' platform proposed by the Duksung team stood out for its user-friendly approach.

Through part-time work, I realized that small business owners worry a lot about cost reduction. Seeing them struggle to find ways to reduce electricity and gas costs inspired this project.

— Jeon Hyo-jeongTeam representative from Duksung Women's University, explaining the inspiration behind the 'GreenCheck' platform.

'GreenCheck' requires users to upload photos of their electricity bills, with gas bills as an optional input. The AI then analyzes the data to assess the business's annual carbon emissions and energy efficiency grade, comparing it against national and industry benchmarks. The platform further identifies key factors influencing energy consumption using SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis and simulates potential energy savings based on adjusted conditions, such as thermostat settings.

Beyond diagnosis, 'GreenCheck' offers customized carbon reduction strategies tailored to specific business sectors. It also assists small business owners by recommending relevant public support programs based on industry, region, and budget, and even helps draft application forms. This comprehensive functionality was highly praised by the judges for its direct applicability and potential to significantly benefit small enterprises. Team representative Jeon Hyo-jeong explained that the project was inspired by her part-time job experiences, where she observed small business owners struggling with cost reduction and lacking knowledge on how to improve energy efficiency.

Students defined the problem starting from the actual difficulties of small business owners, and then implemented it with AI technology, which was impressive.

— Lee Hyung-gyuProfessor at Duksung Women's University and advisor to the team, commenting on the project's merit.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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