Recruitment of 3 New Startup-Centered Universities

A Bridge Role in Spreading Startup Culture Within the Region

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced on the 22nd that it will recruit new Startup-Centered Universities to foster universities as hubs of innovative startups and nurseries of unicorn companies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups established the Startup-Centered University project this year to create a system responsible for discovering and scaling up startup companies, selecting 6 universities and discovering and supporting a total of about 510 startup companies. In particular, Startup-Centered Universities were granted authority to nurture startups originating from regions and universities. Startup-Centered Universities will serve as a bridge by forming networks with related institutions within their regions and local industry-related organizations to operate collaborative programs, and by spreading startup culture through entrepreneurship promotion programs such as startup education and clubs within the university.

This recruitment of new Startup-Centered Universities plans to select universities from regions excluding metropolitan local governments previously selected, to establish a nationwide startup ecosystem foundation. Newly designated universities will be granted rights such as ▲a guaranteed basic 3-year qualification as a Startup-Centered University (with a possible 2-year extension depending on evaluation results) ▲support for commercialization funds for startup companies ▲operation of regional hub programs linked with cooperative institutions to perform university-originated startup and youth startup hub functions within the region.

Next year, a total of about 750 startup companies will be discovered and supported through a total of 9 universities, including 3 newly selected universities. Based on performance evaluations, 'Excellent Startup-Centered Universities' will receive additional operational funding and other rewards. Minister Lee Young said, "Although the domestic startup venture ecosystem is expanding quantitatively, there is still a gap between the metropolitan area and local regions," adding, "I hope Startup-Centered Universities will contribute to reducing that gap by serving as regional and university-originated startup hubs."

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