Seeking Early Intervention Solutions for Children with Developmental Disabilities... Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Selects 12 Teams for 'Children's Heart Expedition'

[The Fair] Reporter Jun-gyu Choi = Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance is accelerating its efforts to discover innovative early intervention solutions for children with developmental delays and developmental disabilities. The company announced on the 19th that it has selected the final 12 teams to advance to the SPACE-1 stage of its social contribution project, the 'Children's Heart Expedition.'

The 'Children's Heart Expedition' is a large-scale three-year project sponsored by Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and co-organized by Severance Hospital, Save the Children Korea, and Impact Square, with a total investment of 15 billion KRW. The project aims to discover innovative solutions for the early detection and treatment of children with developmental delays, and to scientifically verify and disseminate them.

The 12 selected teams were chosen from among 304 applicant teams through expert review and on-site clinical inspections, and were recognized for their high potential. The selected teams include specialized medical institutions such as the Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary's Hospital and Seoul National University Hospital, as well as technology-based startups including JamJam Therapeutics and Neudive. Notably, a number of consortium-type teams combining hospitals with expertise in child development and startups made the list.

These 12 teams will conduct pilot studies with actual children over the next six months to verify the feasibility and initial effectiveness of their solutions. The final 6 teams that pass this process will advance to the SPACE-2 stage, where each team will receive a total of 1.1 billion KRW in funding and have the opportunity to formally demonstrate the scientific efficacy of their solutions through randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Executive Vice President Kyung-sun Jeong emphasized: "The Children's Heart Expedition is designed so that resources can be concentrated on solutions with proven effectiveness through a stage-by-stage verification structure. While this process requires a long time and significant resources, we chose this structure in order to deliver meaningful change for children with developmental delays and their families." Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance plans to actively support the verified solutions from this project so that they can be utilized as effective treatment tools in actual clinical settings in the future.

Source: The Fair (https://www.thefairnews.co.kr)