The inventor inspired by wanting to keep his daughter safe

When Kim Kyeong Yeon's 13-year-old daughter fell and injured herself on an escalator, she set in train events that years later might prevent millions of people around the world from contracting Covid-19.
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The accident happened because the teenager didn't want to hold the handrail due to hygiene concerns.


Kyeong Yeon, a South Korean interior designer, realised that many other people did likewise for the same reason. So he decided he would have a go at inventing a sterilising system.


This was in 2014, and a year later he unveiled his product. Called the Clear Win, it is a small unit that is attached to both sides of an escalator at the end where people get on, so that the handrails pass through them.


Powered by a dynamo, which generates electricity from the constant movement of the escalator, the product beams sterilising ultraviolet light (specifically the UV-C wavelengths) on to the handrail as it moves through it, destroying all viruses and bacteria.
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As Kyeong Yeon had no experience of running a company, he brought on board his cousin, Kim Yoo Cheol, who was a businessman. Both were sure that they were sitting on a gold mine.
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