Ministry of Science and ICT Announces Selection Results for 'Laboratory Startup Innovation Team'
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Ministry of Science and ICT has selected seven universities?Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Ewha Womans University, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST)?to lead the "Laboratory Startup Innovation Group" for the next five years, managing the public technology-based market-linked startup exploration support project (Korean-style I-Corps). Additionally, the Korea Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation and the Korea Innovation Center (KIC-D.C.) were chosen as market exploration educational institutions.
On the 29th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced these screening results. The "Korean-style I-Corps" is a project benchmarked from the I-Corps program operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) since 2015, adapted to fit Korea's circumstances through a partnership with NSF. Pre-startup teams (from universities, government-funded research institutes, etc.) within each Startup Innovation Group conduct interviews with about 100 potential domestic and international customers to validate the feasibility of their business models, and based on this, they receive support to modify and improve (pivot) their startup items. This is an innovative entrepreneurship education program.
Since the pilot project began in 2015, 330 teams have received support up to last year. During this period, 159 startup companies were established, attracting investments totaling 71.5 billion KRW, and creating 856 new jobs (an average of 5.4 employees per company).
In particular, SOS Lab Co., Ltd., a developer of laser sensors for autonomous driving, secured a total investment of 16.6 billion KRW (Series A) from Mirae Asset and others. Designoble Co., Ltd. won the Presidential Award at the "Startup Competition Grand Championship" with its AI-based design generation technology, accumulating success stories across various fields.
The newly selected Startup Innovation Groups will begin by discovering 125 startup teams this year and plan to discover an additional 600 teams by 2025. They will collaborate with market exploration educational institutions to promote practical entrepreneurship education (June to August) and enhance startup items through real-time mentoring (September to December).
The second phase of the Startup Innovation Groups will focus on ▲ nationwide expansion of market exploration education, ▲ strengthening connections with local startup-related organizations, and ▲ discovering and nurturing female entrepreneurs, emphasizing these areas in market exploration education.
Kwon Seok-min, Director of Science and Technology Job Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "Technology-based startups originating from universities are a breakthrough to overcome the youth employment crisis caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic," and added, "We will strengthen communication and cooperation with the institutions leading the second phase of the Korean-style I-Corps project to ensure it becomes a driving force that leads the passion and determination of prospective university and government-funded research institute entrepreneurs to success."
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