Startup Competition Held to Foster 'Proptech' Development

2020 Real Estate Service Industry Startup Competition Poster (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is actively promoting the development of 'Prop Tech,' a real estate service utilizing high-tech technology.

On the 8th, MOLIT announced that it will hold the '2020 Real Estate Service Industry Startup Competition' together with the Korea Appraisal Board to revitalize startups in the real estate industry and support the growth of innovative startups.

As the real estate industry is increasingly converging with other industries such as information and communication technology (ICT), finance, and spatial information, the ministry has continuously expanded the scale of the startup competition to activate the Prop Tech industry and industries utilizing real estate information.

The competition is open to all Korean citizens, and the submission theme covers all fields related to the real estate industry using ICT. MOLIT plans to especially encourage startup ideas that enhance convenience in people's daily lives by utilizing Prop Tech sectors related to the 4th Industrial Revolution and public real estate data.

The grand prize winner will receive the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award along with a prize of 7 million KRW. Additionally, one team will receive the Excellence Award (5 million KRW), two teams will receive the Merit Award (3 million KRW), and two teams will receive the Encouragement Award (1 million KRW), all awarded by the Korea Appraisal Board President.

Applications can be submitted via email from the 9th until May 25. Afterward, document screening and a startup camp will be held, with the final winning teams announced on August 5.

MOLIT plans to use this competition not just as a contest but as an active support opportunity to revitalize startups in the real estate sector, including youth entrepreneurship. To this end, after the competition, outstanding works will be selected to participate in an 8-week startup camp capacity-building program featuring meetings with successful entrepreneurs and one-on-one expert mentoring. Excellent ideas will be supported to lead to actual startups.

A MOLIT official said, “We look forward to many participants with innovative ideas related to the real estate service industry,” and added, “We will spare no policy support to help the real estate service industry develop into a high value-added industry that creates numerous jobs.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.