Our Team Selected Among 12 Finalists in "Children's Mind Expedition" Program

We are delighted to share that our team from Yonsei University has been selected as one of the 12 finalist teams to advance to the SPACE-1 stage of the "Children's Mind Expedition (아이마음 탐사대)", a landmark social innovation program sponsored by Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and co-organized by Severance Hospital, Save the Children Korea, and Impact Square.

Our team, in collaboration with HuRay Positive, is pursuing the early detection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children through retinal fundus image-based analysis, aiming to enable non-invasive and objective screening at an early age.

The program, with a total budget of KRW 15 billion over three years, was launched to discover, validate, and scale innovative solutions for the early identification and intervention of children with developmental delays and disabilities. Our team was selected from an initial pool of 304 applicants, narrowed to 31 teams in SPACE-0, and now among the final 12 teams advancing to SPACE-1.

Over the next six months, our team will conduct a pilot study with real pediatric participants to validate the feasibility and early effectiveness of our solution. Teams that successfully pass SPACE-1 will advance to SPACE-2, where up to KRW 1.1 billion per team will be provided to conduct a full-scale Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with 80 or more children.

We are honored to be part of this meaningful initiative and remain committed to developing impactful solutions for children and families in need.

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