Jieun Park

In 2013, Jieun joined a renewable fuel project led by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), headquartered in D.C, where she helped finish the ICCT’s first white paper on second-generation biofuels. In 2014, she received a premium-processed work permit for research projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, particularly its Clean Cities initiative. Her research provided predictive modeling and data visualization, including the first state-wide electric vehicle data analysis tool as well as the first ZEV-specific toolkit sponsored by the Pacific Coast Collaborative, which represents the world’s fifth largest economy, and for other widely circulated publications on ESCOs and EVs, getting thousands of views and downloads.

Between 2018-2020, as a Climate Change Programme Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Jieun led research coordination to design a project in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, where the aftermath of the Rohingya crisis required integration of conflict sensitivity in the multi-ethnic context and protection of local communities against adverse impacts of climate change. Her fieldwork in the poverty-stricken coastal regions motivated her to prioritize vulnerable populations and mainstream inclusive growth using technology. In addition to expanding renewable energy services in rural areas, she helped create the country’s first Innovation Hub, the region’s first business integrity toolkit, the first post-covid framework at the UN Country Office, and the first UNDP report on the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19.

After the 2021 coup in Myanmar, Jieun initiated her own venture in RoK combining her expertise in climate change with emerging applications of AI technology. Her idea, OceanGo, the world’s first AI-driven, global ocean platform targeting marine biodiversity hotspots, enabling developing countries vulnerable to impacts of climate change to better prepare and protect themselves, won the Global Development Venture Award, among 956 social innovations presented in 2021 Social Venture Competition, sponsored by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). With her R&D team specializing in development strategies on safety, health, and environment, Jieun is making continuous efforts to help her users become agents of change themselves.