Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Recruit 750 Companies for 'Startup-Centered University' Program... Support from Discovery to Growth

Applications Accepted Until February 1
Youth Startup Companies Given Priority Selection Above a Certain Percentage

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 12th that it will recruit 750 prospective startups and startup companies to participate in this year's Startup-Centered University project by the 1st of next month.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is explaining the main policies of the Ministry at the 2024 Policy Direction Briefing held on the 11th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The Ministry is promoting the Startup-Centered University project, which is responsible for discovering and growing startups to activate entrepreneurship within universities and enable universities to serve as regional startup hubs. Various programs such as entrepreneurship education, mentoring, market development, and investment attraction are provided by leveraging university capabilities.

The 750 companies to be selected this year will receive commercialization funds according to their growth stages. The amounts are approximately 50 million KRW for prospective entrepreneurs, 70 million KRW for early-stage startups, and 120 million KRW for growth-stage startups.

Startup companies will be selected through two tracks: the "University Track" and the "Regional Track." The University Track is open to university members such as undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, university technology-based companies, and university-incubated companies regardless of region. The Regional Track is available to prospective entrepreneurs or startups located in the region where the university belongs.

The "Fast Track" system, which grants eligibility to apply for the growth-stage support program even if outstanding companies that have completed the early-stage commercialization support project do not meet the business age requirement (3 to 7 years) for the growth stage, will be expanded to apply only to regional companies. A portion of the support for regional companies will be selected in connection with the Ministry's "Legend 50+ Project," which fosters regional companies in cooperation with local governments.

A certain percentage of young startup companies will be given priority selection. To improve the survival rate of young startups, outstanding beneficiaries among youth-targeted startup support projects such as the First-Time Youth Startup Support Project and Public Technology Commercialization Support will be exempted from document evaluation.

Park Yong-soon, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Through Startup-Centered Universities, we will create a startup ecosystem where university-originated and youth startups can grow based on their regions."

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