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| Kim Sung-il, a developer of allpet application |
By Jun Ji-hye
With an increasing number of people raising animals as companions, pet owner culture has changed a lot, giving way to a variety of new pet services such as beauty treatment and boarding kennels.
Perceptions have changed as well ― for example, previously people called what pets eat, "feed," but now they are starting to call it "food."
But services regarding medical treatment information and insurance in preparation for unexpected accidents are still at a fledgling stage here, said Kim Sung-il in a recent interview with The Korea Times, attributing this to the lack of accurate information on individual characteristics of animals.
This led him to develop allpet ― an app powered by blockchain technology to manage the life cycle of domesticated animals.
"To establish a healthy pet culture, the asymmetrical information between sellers and buyers should be resolved first," he said in the interview. "Lifecycle management is essential for this. I developed allpet to construct a database of companion animals through technology recognizing facial features, nose prints and irises of companion animals."
The application integrates industries and services related to pets and their owners, offering a pet code to provide transparent information.
"When a pet ID is registered, the application collects medical history such as vaccination and surgery records. Then, it recommends tailored products and services for an individual pet," he said. "Forgery and falsification of the information is impossible as the application is managed by blockchain technology. This helps people to take out more suitable insurance for their pets and live more happily with them."
During the market research phase, Kim discovered the number of abandoned dogs has increased, together with a growing number of people raising pets.
This led him to carry out a campaign to help abandoned dogs.
"About half of abandoned dogs were put to sleep," he said. "I thought abandoned dogs should meet new owners and be happier."
The campaign activities include raising contributions and holding donation parties. Contributions have been used to support animal rescuers and dog shelters.
Kim said about 2,000 people have participated in the campaign so far.
"We plan to consistently update information on abandoned dogs to the allpet application and continue to help adopt them into better families," he said.
