'CheongCheongCon' Launch Ceremony Held... Taking on New Challenges in the Non-Face-to-Face Era

18 Outstanding Teams to Be Selected Through Final Presentation on the 19th of Next Month

On the 22nd, Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, delivered a greeting at the CheongcheongCon online launch ceremony held at Tipstown.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 22nd that it held the launch ceremony of 'CheongCheongCon,' a competition aimed at linking ideas in the non-face-to-face sector to startups, with young entrepreneurs in the non-face-to-face and digital fields participating at Tipstown in Seoul. CheongCheongCon stands for 'Senior youth leading junior youth in a startup competition,' and it is a contest designed to connect young people's startup ideas in the non-face-to-face sector to actual startups. It was newly budgeted in the third supplementary budget passed last July.

Unlike existing startup competitions, a distinctive feature is that senior entrepreneurs leading the startup industry directly participate in the evaluation process and mentoring. A total of 738 teams applied, showing a competition rate of 41 to 1. The launch ceremony was arranged as an opportunity for 60 young startup teams who passed the preliminary round through written and face-to-face evaluations among the 738 teams to directly communicate and share experiences with senior youth entrepreneurs who serve as advisors, and considering the COVID-19 situation, it was conducted simultaneously on-site and online.

Senior youth entrepreneurs included Kwak Tae-il, CEO of PalmSkin, and Ahn Eun-hee, CEO of WhiteScan, who were included in Forbes' '300 Asia Global Leaders under 30.' They introduced their startup stories to junior youth startup teams and generously offered advice and encouragement on success factors. During the subsequent 'Senior-Junior Dialogue Time,' junior youth startup teams asked senior entrepreneurs specific questions about the actual commercialization plans of their startup ideas and investment attraction strategies, sharing their experiences with each other. The 60 participants of CheongCheongCon at the launch ceremony will participate in a four-week mentoring process with senior youth entrepreneurs and then take part in the final presentation on the 19th of next month. The 18 selected outstanding teams will receive up to 120 million KRW in commercialization funds and linked technical guarantees.

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry said, "The government will always support and assist so that young people's ideas and potential can be fully realized, leading to startups and growing into unicorn companies that lead the world," adding, "We will create an optimal environment by establishing the Smart Korea Fund to help startups in the non-face-to-face and digital sectors grow bigger and provide initial market access through the K-Non-face-to-face platform."

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