ICONLOOP Builds Blockchain DID-Based Integrated Identity Verification System at CHANGeUP GROUND in Pohang
July 22, 2021, Seoul — ICONLOOP (CEO JH Kim), a leading Korean blockchain company, announced that it has built a blockchain DID (Decentralized Identifier)-based integrated identity verification system at CHANGeUP GROUND in Pohang, which opened yesterday (the 21st). The project is significant as a case of DID applied across an entire building and its resident companies.
The opening ceremony for CHANGeUP GROUND in Pohang, held on the 21st, was attended by senior figures including Prime Minister Boogyum Kim, North Gyeongsang Province Governor Cheolwoo Lee, Pohang Mayor Kangdeok Lee, and POSCO CEO Jeongwoo Choi, who marked the opening of a center set to become another "Pacific Valley." The tour of the CHANGeUP GROUND spaces that followed the ceremony drew considerable interest, with direct introductions to the areas where DID is used, beginning with building access.
Built on ICONLOOP's proprietary technology, the system applies blockchain DID-based identity verification first to access control, visitor invitations, and the use of office automation (OA) equipment, and will subsequently be applied across CHANGeUP GROUND as a whole — including reservations for spaces such as meeting rooms and rest facilities, and a parking management app. Beyond that, members of POSCO, POSTECH, and the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST) will be able to enter and use the facility simply by proving their affiliation through DID-based identity verification, with no separate registration at CHANGeUP GROUND.
The DID technology applied in this system provides identity verification in non-face-to-face settings and lets users manage their personal data themselves — technology tailored to a non-face-to-face environment. Rather than CHANGeUP GROUND managing the information of resident companies' employees, each employee proves their own identity on the basis of affiliation and other data before using the facilities and services, which means individuals can control and manage their own information.
[Photo caption: A view of CHANGeUP GROUND in Pohang]
CHANGeUP GROUND is a startup space POSCO operates to nurture venture companies; the full deployment of the blockchain DID identity verification system strengthened technical security so that resident companies can focus on developing innovative technology with confidence. Drawing on the strong industry-academia-research infrastructure of POSTECH, RIST, and others, POSCO is building a venture valley in Pohang with the aim of becoming a cradle of unicorn companies surpassing Silicon Valley, and created CHANGeUP GROUND to systematically nurture the companies founded there.
"As more and more institutions and companies take an interest in user-centered data distribution, this CHANGeUP GROUND case will be the starting point for data distribution through DID," said ICONLOOP CEO JH Kim. "ICONLOOP will continue to work with POSCO and related organizations to create leading cases of DID-based, user-centered data distribution."
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