Incheon City Joins Hands with Local Universities to Foster Youth Startup Ecosystem... 24 Billion Won Startup Fund Initiative

Operation of the 1st University Joint Startup Academy... Selection of 10 Teams

Incheon City is teaming up with local universities to create a youth startup ecosystem.

On the 12th, the city announced that it will operate the first university-led youth startup platform by launching a university alliance startup academy with local universities. The startup academy will proceed in three stages: Startup Camp, Startup Stepping Stone, and Startup Competition, with about 100 university students (forming 20 alliance teams) from nine local universities participating.

The first stage, the Startup Camp, focuses on spreading startup culture and discovering ideas. University students interested in startups form alliance teams to develop startup ideas aimed at solving social issues in Incheon. After education and mentoring by startup experts, the final 10 teams are selected.

The Startup Stepping Stone is an advanced stage lasting about four months, where local accelerators (AC) are matched with participating teams to support the refinement of students’ business items. Each university also provides startup programs tailored to their unique characteristics for the students.

The final third stage is a startup competition held for the 10 teams selected through the first two stages to identify outstanding youth startup teams. Selected teams will receive a total of 40 million KRW in commercialization funds and the privilege to attend overseas startup exhibitions. The competition will be held during Incheon’s startup festival (SURF 2024) to attract public interest.

Incheon City Hall

The universities participating in the Startup Camp include Incheon National University, Gyeongin Women’s University, Incheon Jaeneung University, Yonsei University International Campus, Cheongun University, Incheon Catholic University, Inha University, Inha Technical College, and Korea Polytechnic University, totaling nine universities. Incheon City plans to promote follow-up linked projects through various startup programs and youth startup fund investments for outstanding teams graduating from the startup academy.

The startup academy is open to any university student in Incheon. Detailed information can be found on the Incheon Technopark website, and applications can be submitted through the respective universities.

The city is also establishing a startup fund with local universities to support young entrepreneurs facing difficulties in securing business capital. Incheon City will invest 1 billion KRW, and each of the nine local universities will contribute 100 million KRW, forming a total capital of 1.9 billion KRW to create the provisional '(tentative name) Incheon Youth Startup Big Wave Mother Fund.'

Through this, three sub-funds will be established and operated with a total scale of 24 billion KRW via investments in private investment associations and venture investment associations, focusing on investing in university startups and student companies in Incheon.

An official from Incheon City stated, "We will closely cooperate with local universities and startup support organizations to ensure that outstanding young entrepreneurs can take root in Incheon and realize their startup dreams.”