Minister Han Seong-sook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the 18th laid out next year's TIPS directions, including expanding R&D, extending into regional and global arenas, and creating social value.
The Minister attended the "TIPS performance sharing meeting" held at the Four Seasons Hotel Gwanghwamun that day to share TIPS' performance and introduce the 2026 TIPS plan to take a further leap.
TIPS is a public-private partnership startup support system in which private operators use their expertise and capabilities to select startups for investment and incubation, and the government provides linked support such as R&D and commercialization funds. Since its launch, more than 4,400 innovative companies have participated over 13 years, and this year it surpassed 20 trillion won in follow-on investment attracted.
Next year, TIPS will strengthen support with a focus on nurturing K-big tech. First, it will significantly expand the scale of R&D support for TIPS corporations. For the first time in 13 years since TIPS' introduction, it will raise the per-project support unit cost for the general R&D track from 5 billion won over two years to 8 billion won over two years, and will support follow-on R&D of 15 billion won over three years for startups that have graduated from the general track.
It will also raise the investment requirement for TIPS operators from 100 million won to 200 million won to expand the inflow of private capital and strengthen the function of selecting promising corporations. In addition, it plans to analyze various data of TIPS corporations with an AI-based "growth support system" and provide tailored support such as follow-on investment, securing sales channels, and pivots according to corporation type.
It will also expand into regional and global arenas. To increase TIPS corporations outside the Seoul metropolitan area, up to 50% will be preferentially allocated to the regions during selection evaluations, and the investment requirement will be relaxed by 50% compared with metropolitan corporations (200 million won in the metropolitan area, 100 million won outside). In addition, "Welcome to TIPS," which discovers promising corporations in the regions, will be expanded from the existing "five major zones" centered on the southeast, Chungcheong, Honam, Daegyeong, and the metropolitan area to a "five poles, three specials" system by adding North Jeolla, Gangwon, and Jeju.
A "TIPS global delegation" made up of innovative startups will be dispatched to major overseas exhibitions and networking events to support the formation of global networks with overseas buyers and VCs.
It will also work to expand the creation of social value. When senior TIPS corporations independently plan growth support programs such as mentoring for junior corporations, the government will back them to spread a startup sharing culture such as "Pay-it-Forward" throughout the TIPS ecosystem. In addition, in the corporation selection process, an "ESG institutional sector" will be newly established to prioritize the selection of ESG corporations such as Climate Tech and social ventures, and whether a retirement pension plan has been introduced will also be reflected.
About 400 people, including TIPS participant corporations and operators and heads of supporting institutions, attended the performance sharing meeting that day. As "TIPS corporations of the year," Rebellions, which grew into Korea's first AI unicorn, Bitsensing, which launched with TIPS and is growing rapidly, and DreamAce, which is practicing win-win cooperation such as mentoring junior corporations, were selected. As "TIPS operators of the year," Seoul National University Holdings, FuturePlay, and the Chungbuk Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, which recently showed strong results in discovering and incubating corporations, were chosen.