Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) celebrated its 50th anniversary on Nov. 16 in a ceremony held at the auditorium at its head office in Daejon with a declaration for its centennial plan for a “brand new start.”
In his celebrating speech at the ceremony attended by executives and staff, President Lee Hak-soo said he expected the conditions surrounding the water resources to change enormously and rapidly. He called for the changes in the paradigm for water resources management in response to climate change and for people to be ready for the changes in the water resources management structures of the water industry under the 4th Industrial Revolution based on reformed technologies.
The K-water CEO said he thinks the turning point for K-water will occur in the next five years in which the company will lead the global water resources management, transitioning from being a follower.
He pointed out three key steps to push the centennial plan; The first being to make the growth base solid through structural reform to open a new chapter of growth. The second step being to become a company enjoying the public trust by managing the water resources satisfactory to what the people want. The third and last one to be at front of creating social value shared jointly with all levels of society.
Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) has been doing a great job with its Water Business Open Platform by providing information on water and water management systems to SMEs so they can conduct tests on their new technologies related to water resources management around the country, especially tap water systems.
The Yusol Co. has been one of those companies that got a break when K-water opened its tap water systems to the public and the company got three supply systems in the Wan Islands in South Jeolla Province and concluded tests for its technologies to prevent water leaks in the tap water systems including the LTE Long Distance Water Leak Detection System and two new products based on the system.
The company sold these products worth 1.5 billion won last year and hired 8 new employees.
K-water set up the Water Business Platform Center in July to help those SMEs to use them for their business purposes.
What steered K-water to open the dams and reservoirs was the information that said the global water market is expected to grow 4.2 percent annually from $713.9 billion in 2016, much higher than the comparable figures then the domestic water market, which stands at 2.3 percent growth annually.
A study showed that the lack of technology was behind the low growth rate with only K-water and Doosan Industrial Co. engaged in the business as big operators and the rest made up of SMEs.
SMEs need opportunities to test their new equipment and technologies to grow in water management businesses, but they can’t find enough opportunities which was also showed up in a survey conducted by K-water on SMEs that wanted to expand their water management businesses.
K-water expects to help boost the sale of SMEs by 100 billion won and create 1,070 new jobs through the Water Business Open Platform this year and 1.9 trillion won and 12,000 new jobs in the next five years.
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