Recruitment for 'Everyone's Challenge' Open Innovation in Beauty and Platform Sectors by Major Corporations and AI Startups

Support for 15 Companies in Beauty Sector,
10 Companies in Platform Sector

On May 18, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it would officially launch and promote collaboration through the "Everyone's Challenge" program in the beauty and platform sectors, supporting partnerships between large corporations and innovative AI startups.

Han Sung-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the Youth Startup Activation Talk Concert held on the 30th of last month at Korea University, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

"Everyone's Challenge" is a program designed to foster the growth of startups in new industries by supporting open innovation, including technology proof-of-concept (PoC) and securing sales channels, through partnerships between startups in strategic new industry sectors and leading organizations in each field. Since April, the program has been underway in sectors such as AI Transformation (AX), defense industry, and robotics.

The newly announced sectors on May 19 are beauty and platforms. In the beauty sector, the program aims to strengthen the competitiveness of K-Beauty in the global market by combining the infrastructure and data resources of major cosmetics companies with the AI technology capabilities of startups, while also supporting startups in expanding their market reach.

Three major corporations—Amorepacific, LG Household & Health Care, and Kolmar Korea—will participate as demand companies in the beauty sector. The program will promote collaboration to drive product and service innovation and enhance customer experiences by applying AI technology throughout the entire value chain of the beauty industry.

A total of 15 companies will be selected through the open call. The program will support the development of AI-based solutions in research, manufacturing, and marketing (promotion) by utilizing resources such as ingredients and formulations provided by the participating corporations. Selected startups will receive up to 100 million won in collaboration funds, and support for expanding sales channels through the overseas distribution networks and marketing channels of large corporations is also planned.

In the platform sector, the program will leverage data and service infrastructure related to small businesses, together with the AI technology of startups, to support digital management for small business owners and accelerate the commercialization efforts of startups.

Three major corporations—Kakao Mobility, KakaoBank, and Toss—will participate as demand companies. The program will promote collaboration to establish AI-based, customized management optimization solutions (support systems) for small businesses by integrating demand, sales, marketing, and financial functions.

A total of 10 companies will be selected in the platform sector through the open call. By utilizing sales and operational data from platform companies, AI solutions (support systems) will be developed to assist with customer demand forecasting and sales prediction, supporting the overall management of small businesses. Up to 100 million won in collaboration funds will be provided. Outstanding results may also be featured on the platforms of the demand companies.

Startups wishing to participate in the detailed collaboration projects can apply via the K-Startup portal from the announcement date, May 19, until June 8.

Hansung-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated, "Open innovation is an essential growth strategy to accelerate the market entry of startups in fast-changing new industries and to connect them to overseas markets. Through 'Everyone's Challenge,' we will steadily advance open innovation support programs for other fields such as bio (life sciences), climate tech (climate response technology), and smart cities (intelligent cities) as well."

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