Open Call for 120 New Super Gap Startups Next Year

Six Strategic Industries and Twelve New Industries
2026 Super Gap Startup Project Recruitment Announcement

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 28th that it will launch the 2026 "Super Gap Startup Project," which aims to select deep tech startups with unique technologies in new industries and support their global expansion through technology commercialization, open innovation, and investment attraction.

Since 2023, the government has been nurturing deep tech startups in the top 10 new industries, including system semiconductors, through the Super Gap Project. Starting next year, the project will reflect the new administration’s six strategic industries and 15 major super-innovation economic projects, and will reorganize its support areas into "six strategic industries and 12 new industries."

By this year, 604 super gap startups have been selected and directly supported through key policy measures such as technology commercialization, collaboration with large corporations, and domestic and overseas investment attraction. Additional support has been provided through policy funds, R&D, technology guarantees, and export vouchers. As a result, three global unicorns, including Furiosa, have emerged. Fourteen companies have been listed on KOSDAQ, and thirteen companies have attracted 6.77 billion won in new investments, achieving remarkable results.

The Super Gap Project provides support in two phases: basic support and follow-up support, and plans to operate three specialized programs-technology advancement, open innovation, and global investment attraction. For basic support, 200 new super gap startups with promising innovative technologies in 12 fields will be selected through three tracks: open call, private sector recommendations, and ministry recommendations. This announcement will select 120 companies through the open call track. Selected super gap startups will receive up to 600 million won in commercialization funding for three years, and, depending on company demand and a separate evaluation, up to 600 million won in R&D funding for an additional two years, with a maximum of 1.2 billion won per company. They will also receive linked support such as policy funds, technology guarantees, and export vouchers.

Follow-up support will be provided to top-tier super gap startups that have completed basic support and achieved outstanding results in sales, employment, or investment. These companies will receive up to 1 billion won in global scaling-up funds over two years, as well as support for establishing a foothold in global markets.

In the specialized programs, "Tech Up" is designed to help super gap startups advance their technologies and accelerate commercialization by integrating with external technologies. Among these, the "Fabless Startup Integrated Support" will newly select 10 fabless companies through this announcement and provide up to 250 million won in technology commercialization funding for one year. Outstanding startups will be eligible for continued support through the 2027 Super Gap Startup Project.

"Link Up" is an open innovation program focused on supporting growth centered around artificial intelligence (AI), a core global technology. The program will sequentially announce "AI Challenges" by sector to drive a broad AI transformation (AX) across industry and SMEs, led by startups. It will also host "Inno Wave," an open innovation event featuring public pitching between startups and large corporations or public institutions in new industries.

"Boost Up" is intended to support super gap startups in scaling up and strengthening their capabilities for global expansion. Through the "Domestic and Global Super Gap VC Membership," a dedicated investment council for super gap startups, regular investment attraction events (IR) will be held, and efforts will be made to attract global investment in the United States, Japan, Europe, and other regions.

Han Seong-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated, "Deep tech, represented by AI, is fundamentally transforming industrial structures beyond simple ideas, and startups are at the center of this change. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will do its utmost, in collaboration with the public and private sectors, to ensure that innovative deep tech startups can grow into key players in the global market through the Super Gap Project."