Diagnosis of depression using saliva... "Korea is an underdeveloped country in mental health"
In the bio and healthcare field, which accounted for the largest portion of baby unicorn companies in the first half of the year, Minds AI attracted attention. This company has released a kit that helps diagnose depression using saliva. The degree of depression can be assessed by analyzing the stress hormone 'cortisol' in saliva. Normally, cortisol concentration is highest in the morning and lowest at night, which is why repeated measurements are necessary. It is evaluated as having reduced the cumbersome process of going to the hospital and having blood drawn.
Saliva collected through the kit is sent to the hospital along with the user's psychological test sheet. After about a week of analysis, the results are presented in four stages: normal, interest, warning, and risk. For patients in risk groups, a psychological treatment program using virtual reality (VR) devices is also provided. The programs encompassed by the company have been approved as medical devices by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and are about to undergo confirmatory clinical trials. The company explained that as a result of the phase 3 clinical trial, the sensitivity of diagnosis was 100% and the accuracy was 92%.
The company's founder, CEO Seok Jeong-ho, is a professor of psychiatry at Gangnam Severance Hospital. He has been researching depression for over 20 years. He felt the severity of mental health issues keenly, including losing a close friend to suicide. He said, "It's sad to see people ending their lives because they are sick physically or with an incurable disease, but it's really sad when they turn away from the world because their hearts are sick. I believe in applying the technology I created to society to help patients with depression escape the risk of suicide." “I started my own business,” he said.
Representative Seok assessed that Korea is still an ‘underdeveloped country’ in the field of mental health. His diagnosis is that only about one-fifth of people who need psychiatric treatment are receiving it. He said, “I want to make it easier for more people to access treatment,” and added, “We will distribute technology around the world that allows people to receive both evaluation and treatment at home.”
Web novels like ‘KakaoTalk’... Breaking down the boundaries between writers and readers
Explainable AI is emerging
In the AI field, Ineasy, founded by KAIST professor Jaesik Choi, has become a baby unicorn. This company, which opened in 2019, has developed solutions that apply AI to industrial sites to optimize processes or preventive maintenance of facilities. The company's identity is 'Explainable AI (XAI)'. This is a method where AI makes decisions based on data and provides additional information so that humans can understand why that decision was made. It has the advantage of being highly reliable in the results of its actions.The company supplies this solution to large corporate customers. For example, the company explained that by introducing a solution to POSCO's smart blast furnace, the temperature difference of molten iron inside the furnace was reduced by 25% at high temperatures, saving 64.7 billion won per year. In addition, we have secured more than 30 large customers, including LG Chem, SK Energy, and Ssangyong C&E. In this process, process operators can improve work efficiency by moving away from busy driving-centered work and switching to monitoring-centered work. Jaesik Choi, CEO of INEEJI, explained, “This year’s confirmed sales exceeded 2 billion won, and next year’s 5.1 billion won is already set as confirmed sales.”
INEEJI plans to expand its business scope to areas other than smart factories in the future. The goal is to incorporate the technology of ‘prediction’ into everyday life. CEO Choi said, “From weather to finance, I want to make sure that all companies that want predictions come to INEEJI” and added, “INEEJI will develop an AI foundation model that integrates various prediction technologies into the platform.”
