South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Korea Industrial Technology Association (KOITA) said on Feb. 9 they selected Jung Haesung (정해성), a senior researcher at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), and Jang Yonghyun (장용현), head of the research institute at Hancom Lifecare, as winners of the February "Korea Engineer Award". The award grants engineers who contribute to industrial sites through technological innovation a deputy prime minister and MSIT minister's award and prize money of 5 million won.

Jung was recognised for developing and successfully localising "K-ITS", integrated operating software for automated test equipment (ATE) that can run hardware control and test procedures at the same time.

The software Jung developed delivered results including software compatibility even when hardware is replaced, a user environment that allows non-specialists to run test procedures, and cost savings of about 5 billion won by applying it to a 100 billion won project in the defence sector. It addressed problems such as scrapping equipment due to discontinued foreign products or excessive maintenance costs, it explained.

"I will continue to innovate so that automated test equipment made with our technology can be exported overseas," Jung said.

Jang has devoted about 24 years to industrial safety and developed an ultralight firefighter breathing apparatus using high-strength carbon material (LFT) that reduced weight by at least 13 percent compared with existing products.

Specifically, it cut the weight of the breathing apparatus set to 8.95 kg from 10.3 kg, eased the user's physical burden by distributing about 70 percent of the load to the waist area, secured impact resistance and heat resistance that allow operation even in 950-degree flames, and built technological competitiveness by registering about 140 related patents at home and abroad.

"I will do my best to raise the competitiveness of South Korean firefighting equipment to the world's top level," Jang said.