GroundK received the Korea MICE Association Chairman's Award in the Digital MICE category at the 22nd Korea MICE Awards, held at Songdo Convensia. The award recognizes GroundK's contribution to the digital transformation of the MICE industry, driven by T-RiseUp PMS, the B2B mobility solution the company built in-house.
What the Digital MICE Award Recognizes
GroundK announced on November 11 that it had received the Korea MICE Association Chairman's Award in the Digital MICE category at the 22nd Korea MICE Awards, held on November 6 at Songdo Convensia. The honor reflects GroundK's role in advancing the digital transformation of the MICE industry.
Founded in 2016, GroundK provides IT-based mobility services for companies and institutions. Through the global pandemic, the company kept investing in technology while tracking shifts in demand — and that sustained investment produced T-RiseUp, its B2B mobility solution.
Why GroundK Built T-RiseUp for B2B Mobility
CEO Jang Dong-won explains that T-RiseUp was built not for public transport that has already gone digital — taxis, city and intercity buses — but for B2B services with far more complex requirements. Many IT systems already exist for the transport business, yet taxi-based tools stop at matching nearby vehicles in real time, and bus management systems handle little more than operating schedules. None fit B2B mobility.
So GroundK expanded its own development team and created T-RiseUp, an asset-management solution that handles reservations, dispatch, vehicles, and drivers — complex data managed together in one place. Just as notable is that GroundK uses and refines the solution in its own operations, pairing it with strong service capability to create real synergy across the MICE industry.
From Summits to International Sport: Proven Operations
Beginning with the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit in Busan in 2019 and continuing through the Korea-Africa Summit held at KINTEX this past May, GroundK has been a core partner present at every major summit in Korea. Beyond summits, it has built trust by delivering ground transport for senior government meetings, academic conferences, conventions, and exhibitions across the MICE calendar.
GroundK has also made its mark in international sport. Starting with overall transport management for the 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships in February, then the Audi Summer Tour, and most recently the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2023 Awards in October, GroundK contributed to the success of each event. The AFC in particular praised GroundK's technical capability.
A Stage Expanding into Southeast Asia
GroundK is scaling up through partnerships with local operators in Thailand and the Philippines. In Southeast Asia, growth uncertainty has slowed digital transformation, leaving a blue-ocean market that competitors from the Americas and Europe have yet to enter. GroundK says results are already emerging in the region it has pursued since last year, and that it will keep investing in and expanding across Asian markets.
Technology Investment That Strengthens Korea's MICE Edge
CEO Jang added that GroundK will not spare investment in its technical workforce next year. While many MICE companies are staffed mainly by management personnel, GroundK has again added engineers this year to push the industry's digital transformation. Unlike standard vehicle protocol work, bus models require managing stops, seats, and schedules — and GroundK is refining these to suit both tourism and the MICE industry.
"Korea's MICE competitiveness is proving itself in a fiercely competitive global market. Through continued effort year after year, we will do our utmost to help the MICE industry grow into a driver of economic growth." — Jang Dong-won, CEO of GroundK