Gyeongsang National University Hosts This Year's College Student Startup Competition and Awards Ceremony

Hosted by University Agricultural Science Future Animal Resources Center

Future Animal Resources 'Insect JOBara!' Theme

Participants are taking a group photo after the 'Catch the Insects' award ceremony held at Gyeongsang National University.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] The 2022 University Student Startup Competition and Awards Ceremony, jointly organized by the Gyeongsang National University Institute of Agricultural and Food Bio Convergence and the Department of Animal Science, and hosted by the Future Animal Resources Center of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, was held on the 10th.

This event was held under the theme "Future Animal Resources Insect JOB-ara!" targeting students of the Department of Animal Science, aiming to promote startups utilizing insects, a future animal resource recently gaining attention, and to foster creative talent through this.

A total of 11 people from three teams and one individual team received awards.

▲ The Grand Prize went to the team of Kim Do-ye, Jung Eun-seo, Ha Jeong-hyo, and Hwang Yoon-ah, who presented "Edible Insect Coffee Startup and Promotion Strategy." ▲ The Excellence Award was given to the team of Gu Seong-min, Kim Young-jin, and Kim Ji-han, who proposed "Production and Industrialization of Health-Oriented Insect-Derived Butter," and to student Kim Ji-won, who proposed "Development and Startup of Insect Feed Vending Machine for Stray Cats." ▲ The Merit Award was awarded to the team of Kim Se-chan, Lee Tae-won, and Min Jae-woong, who proposed "Serum-Free Cultured Meat Production and Insect Food."

The Grand Prize winners received a certificate from the Director of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences and a book gift certificate worth 100,000 KRW; the Excellence Award winners received a certificate from the Director of the Future Animal Resources Center and a book gift certificate worth 50,000 KRW; and all awardees were given insect food worth approximately 100,000 KRW sponsored by Bugmill Agricultural Corporation, Gumbaengi Nuri, and the FG&B affiliated research institute as prizes.

Kim Tae-wan, CEO of Gumbaengi Nuri and chair of the judging panel for this startup competition, said, "The innovative items presented today in the insect field, where the startup ecosystem is still weak, were excellent enough to be industrialized."

Professor Cho Kwang-geun, head of the Animal Material Engineering major in the Department of Animal Science, said, "We hope that future young entrepreneurs will emerge through this competition, and the department plans to actively support them."

Professor Kim Il-seok of the Department of Animal Science, director of the Future Animal Resources Center, which holds the insect startup competition annually, encouraged, "We will continue to provide data support and advice to the awardees so that the field of knowledge and technology startups, considering the usefulness and various physiological functional properties of insects, can develop one step further."

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