This month, at Eureka Park near the Las Vegas Convention Center in the United States, where the world’s largest information technology (IT) and home appliance exhibition “CES 2026” was held, a steady stream of buyers and startup officials from around the world visited the Hanseo University booth. After listening to Hanseo University’s product explanations, they showered the team with questions, saying they were “surprised that a university developed such technology.”

● Four CES Innovation Awards… Recognized by the market

Hanseo University, which restructured itself around the aviation industry and was selected as a Glocal 30 university, won four Innovation Awards at CES 2026. The Innovation Awards are prestigious honors presented by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in the United States, based on a comprehensive evaluation of user value, technological prowess, design, and innovativeness. Since 2020, Hanseo University has received CES Innovation Awards for seven consecutive years, for a total of 28 awards. This is both the first and the highest number of awards for a Korean university.

CES assesses the current state of technological development every year and presents directions for the future. Last year, it emphasized that technology should no longer remain a novel exhibit but serve as a tool to address contemporary challenges such as climate, environment, welfare, and safety, putting artificial intelligence (AI), aviation, and next-generation mobility forward as core keywords.

This year’s event showed that those technologies are entering the stage of real-world implementation. Hanseo University’s Innovation Award-winning works are prime examples: “AIRDIVIBER,” an air management system that simultaneously performs separation and purification; “NaviCane,” a smart cane for the visually impaired that utilizes AI vision and sensors; “aio Food Waste Composter,” a food waste processor that automatically optimizes drying and decomposition using AI-based technology; and “AiVATAR,” an AI avatar generation system that recognizes voice and facial expressions in real time.

It is noteworthy that these achievements come from two startups founded by undergraduates of Hanseo University’s Industrial Design Department and one faculty-founded startup. Ideas originating in university laboratories and classrooms have thus received recognition for both technological capability and commercial viability. Among more than 110 overseas companies that showed interest in these technologies and products over the four days of the exhibition, 20 agreed to proceed with follow-up business meetings.



● Results of one-stop support based on RISE

Observers attribute these results to Hanseo University’s “One-Stop Corporate Support Platform,” established on the basis of the RISE (Regional Innovation-led University Support System) framework. The university supported stages that are difficult for on-campus startup teams to handle on their own—from research and development (R&D) and design to prototype production, marketing, and overseas exhibitions. It connected local industries, university researchers, and student entrepreneurs so that laboratory technologies could be applied directly in the market.

During CES 2026 from the 6th to the 9th, Hanseo University’s startup teams operated 13 independent booths, conducting consultations and meetings with overseas buyers and partners while continuing investor networking. Domestic home appliance companies such as Coway, global consulting firms, and investors from Israel also visited the booths to discuss technology validation and investment potential.

At the “2026 Global Industry–Academia–Research Cooperation Forum,” held on-site at CES 2026 on the 7th, participants discussed global cooperation strategies for AI, aviation, and mobility convergence industries through the Chungnam RISE project and the Glocal university innovation model. They also debated how to link technological innovation with the development of local talent.

President Ham Gi-seon said, “Through the CES 2026 Innovation Awards and the global forum, Hanseo University’s specialization strategy and globalization efforts as a ‘Glocal 30’ university have been recognized. The university will continue to build models that connect directly to the global market.”

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