Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds Launch Ceremony for Youth Startup Academy

Youth Startup Academy Entrance Ceremony and Launch Event
Over 500 Young Entrepreneurs Gathered in One Place

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 16th that it held the entrance ceremony and send-off event for the Youth Startup Academy at the main campus in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

The Youth Startup Academy is a project designed to accelerate the growth of young entrepreneurs by providing a comprehensive package of support necessary for startups, including funding, technical education, and expert mentoring, to help innovative young CEOs overcome various challenges they may face.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a congratulatory speech at the 'Youth Startup Academy Entrance Ceremony and Send-off Ceremony' held on the 16th at the main campus of the Youth Startup Academy located in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

It was first established in 2011 at the Ansan Training Center of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and has since continuously expanded, currently operating 18 locations nationwide.

Over the past 13 years (2011?2023), a total of 7,638 young entrepreneurs have been discovered and nurtured, producing unicorn companies (2 companies, Toss and Zigbang) and achieving significant results.

The send-off event was held under the theme "Youth Dreams to the World." Key activities included awarding plaques of appreciation to alumni companies and a hologram performance symbolizing wishes for the successful startups of young entrepreneurs.

The plaque of appreciation was awarded to Openknowl, representing 25 alumni companies of the Youth Startup Academy that established the "Youth Startup Academy Startup Fund" to invest in junior young entrepreneurs.

Following this, a meeting was held chaired by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Startup Policy Officer to collect on-site difficulties and suggestions from young entrepreneurs. A young entrepreneur attending the meeting said, “I was motivated to apply after seeing the growth cases of senior companies from the Youth Startup Academy, and I hope that various networking opportunities with senior companies will continue to be provided.”

Meanwhile, various side events were also prepared for the young entrepreneurs attending the send-off ceremony. Consultation booths were set up to facilitate exchanges with global accelerators and top 10 domestic venture investors, and special lectures by alumni companies and experts were held.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, “The Youth Startup Academy is a representative policy for youth startups in our country. Recently, private institutions such as alumni companies of the Youth Startup Academy, global corporations, and accelerators have been closely collaborating in various fields such as investment, technology, and marketing to support the growth of young entrepreneurs. The government will not only provide direct support to young entrepreneurs but also pay more attention to playing a connecting role that fully utilizes the capabilities of the startup ecosystem members.”

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