The Donggurami Foundation (formerly the Ahn Cheol-soo Foundation, currently chaired by Jang Soon-heung) announced that it is seeking talented individuals from various fields, including medical students, doctors, healthcare professionals, developers, and designers, who can propose innovative solutions for our society. Their goal is to discover innovators who will solve identified problems and develop related products or services that positively impact over one billion people within the next 10 years.
This program, which began its first session in 2021, is now in its fourth year and offers an 8-week free (scholarship-supported) course. Inspired by the foundation’s founder Ahn Cheol-soo’s development of a ‘vaccine’ program that treats computer viruses?similar to how vaccines treat viruses invading the human body?while he was a doctor, and which led to innovation in the cybersecurity field through AhnLab, the program was launched to nurture innovators. It aims to encourage many talents, including healthcare workers and medical students, to take an interest in social issues and collaboratively solve them through innovative solutions.
Among the graduates of the first three sessions, 13 have already started healthcare-related ventures, securing approximately 5 billion KRW in investment. Detailed news about these startups and investments can be found on the foundation’s website.
Notably, this fourth session takes a step forward under the theme “Shoot your IDEA to Innovation!” Unlike previous programs that focused mainly on startup potential, this year’s program emphasizes ‘innovation’ by introducing a ‘Grand Innovation Award.’ Building on last year’s efforts, team-building and a 2-day, 1-night springboard event have been strengthened to create an environment where teams can freely identify problems and generate ideas to solve them.
Selected participants will have opportunities to attend lectures, discussions, and mentoring sessions with experts in medical science and various innovative technologies, as well as meet innovators and startup experts from diverse fields. They will also participate in field trips to innovative technology companies. Participants will explore humanitarian issues individually and in teams, learning approaches to solve these problems from the perspective of innovative technology. Teams will set targets and develop MVPs and business models through team projects.
On the final day of the program, Innovation Day will showcase the results of the 8-week learning and team projects. Outstanding teams, including the Grand Innovation Award winner, will receive prize money totaling approximately 5 million KRW, and all graduates will be awarded certificates. Post-program support, including investment and various infrastructure connections, will continue for teams and individuals who have started ventures.
Jang Soon-heung, chairman of the Donggurami Foundation and the host and sponsor of the program, stated, “Future education should focus on finding valuable problems, solving them, and commercializing those solutions through startups. We hope that Donggurami Foundation TEU MED will serve as a platform for such progress.”
Following this, Song Mi-ryeong, head of the Donggurami Foundation’s project team, said, “This program is not exclusively for medical services or product development. We welcome and expect interdisciplinary innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset to realize those innovations.”
She added, “The protagonists of Donggurami Foundation TEU MED 4th session are you, the readers of this message. As the achievements of past graduates continue steadily, the foundation also supports networking beyond cohorts through TEU and TEU MED. We encourage many with bright eyes and genuine passion to apply.”
More detailed information about the program schedule and speakers can be found in the announcements section of the Donggurami Foundation website. Applications are open until Thursday, April 18, 11:59 PM, and can be submitted online through the TEU website.
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