Ministry of SMEs and Startups-SK Planet to Host Youth App Development 'Smartin App+ Challenge 2024'

Recruitment Starts from the 2nd... Up to 5 Million Won Prize Money

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 1st that it will jointly host the youth application development competition, ‘Smartin App+ Challenge 2024,’ with SK Planet.

‘Smartin App+ Challenge’ is a competition held since 2011 to discover new ideas from youth and nurture creative developers in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). Over the past 13 years, a total of 4,213 teams (14,602 participants) have taken part, resulting in 449 apps being commercialized and 55 teams starting businesses. Among them, startups such as Sandyfloor, Nine to Labs, and Bifex have attracted investments and achieved visible success.

Any high school student nationwide or youth with equivalent qualifications can participate in the ‘Smartin App+ Challenge.’ Recruitment is divided into two categories: ▲Life Information (AI, IoT, and all areas of daily life) and ▲Entertainment (games and fun fields, utilizing AR/VR). The competition is conducted in two team types: ‘Development Teams,’ who directly develop prototypes, and ‘Idea Teams,’ who can participate with innovative ideas even without development skills.

Through preliminary (document) screening, 108 teams will be selected by evaluating originality, feasibility, and marketability. Then, 70 teams passing the final screening will receive entrepreneurship and startup basics education, as well as project-based customized training in Android, iOS, backend, and more.

This year, alumni winners from the past 13 years of the ‘Smartin App+ Challenge,’ IT experts, and others will participate as mentors, proposing problem-solving methods based on their direct experiences and coaching in specialized fields to strengthen problem-solving skills.

The 70 teams who complete the training will undergo a final evaluation in September, where 35 teams will be selected. Awards (including the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award) and a total prize of 50 million KRW will be given at Korea’s largest youth entrepreneurship festival, the ‘Youth Biz Cool Festival.’ Follow-up support includes festival booth exhibitions and appearances on the startup internet broadcast ‘Jjoltu.’

Youth wishing to participate can submit their idea proposals online by May 12 for development teams and by June 9 for idea teams.

Jo Kyung-won, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “Through this competition, we hope that young people with innovative and creative ideas will learn and experience the entire startup process, providing a great opportunity for anyone to challenge entrepreneurship and grow.”

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