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In January 2024, dozens of bouquets and trophies were waiting to be handed to the awardees in the largest hall of NAVER 1784. The occasion was “N Awards 2023,” an awards ceremony to announce and celebrate the technologies and ideas that led to TEAM NAVER’s innovation throughout the year. During this event, TEAM NAVER executives and members gathered to applaud each other and share their stories.

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Efforts behind TEAM NAVER’s strong competitive edge

From the mobile transformation in the mid-2000s to the wave of generative AI starting in 2023, NAVER was able to overcome numerous crises, grow, and become a strong competitor in a rapidly changing market thanks to TEAM NAVER members who never stopped innovating, pushing boundaries and making new attempts.

To recognize and celebrate the skills and ideas at the root of this innovation, NAVER organized “N Awards,” which holds the “Open Idea Challenge,” a competition for ideas to make our business and services shine, and the “N Innovation Award,” an award program with a 15-year tradition of recognizing key technologies and research.

NAVER CEO Choi Soo-yeon, NAVER Cloud CTO Kwak Yong-jae, TECH Committee Chairman Jang Jun-ki, and other executives and colleagues attended the awards ceremony to show their encouragement and support for the awardees of “N Awards.”

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NAVER's technology and idea engine gathered in one place

The theme of the “Open Idea Challenge” was “Planning/developing an application based on HyperCLOVA X, NAVER's Generative AI,” which garnered enthusiastic response from members, with more than 300 ideas submitted during the two-week submission period. The honors were granted to ideas that fully utilize the strengths of HyperCLOVA X to make a positive impact on real-world business by connecting with NAVER’s values, and we are currently considering commercializing them.

“N INNOVATION AWARD” has been NAVER’s most significant in-house technology award ceremony for 15 years since 2008. It recognizes technologies that have overcome high development difficulties and surprised the market and industry in new ways that have never been seen before. In 2023, nearly 70 technologies were nominated, with major awardees spanning the entire AI ecosystem.

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<N Awards>, celebrating and moving forward together

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There was a total of 13 teams awarded at “N Awards 2023.” The awardees were awarded a total of KRW 320 million in cash prizes to encourage awardees in their efforts to lead changes at TEAM NAVER. Each time the awardees were named, the recipients walked up to the podium with trembling feet, received their certificates, trophies, and congratulatory bouquets, and were cheered and applauded by their leaders and colleagues. Afterward, the awardees shared their thoughts, looking back on the journey leading up to the award, as well as their acceptance speeches in which they expressed their gratitude to their colleagues.

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“It was a meaningful time that allowed us to actually implement and test the idea that started as fun imagination. I will never forget presenting the idea to the leaders and the Q&A session with the CEO in the final presentation.”

Kim Sung-min, Awardee of “Open Idea Challenge,” Commerce Solution Planning

"It took me a long time and multiple setbacks to develop this technology, but I'm glad it turned out well. I would also like to thank colleagues from my team, and other colleagues who cooperated with me for their unwavering support. We will do our best in the future so that this technology can also lead to service performance."

Kang In-cheol, Awardee of “N INNOVATION,” NAVER Technology 1 Development

NAVER will continue to support and encourage small and large innovations created by TEAM NAVER members to create more valuable services for our users in their daily lives ●