Soongsil University Campus Town said on the 2nd that it was selected again this year for the Seoul Campus Town program, recognized for building an artificial intelligence (AI)-based startup ecosystem.
Over the past six years, Soongsil University Campus Town has won 15 startup support projects from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and central government ministries, injecting a total budget of 25.6 billion won to discover and nurture 538 startup corporations. It was credited with establishing a comprehensive support system spanning the entire cycle of technology startups and spreading the "AI+X" startup model that fuses AI with multiple industrial sectors.
Soongsil University Campus Town also received the top grade of A+ in the 2024 performance evaluation of Seoul's Campus Town.
Centering on AI technology, it is expanding the scope of startup support into advanced industrial fields such as advanced mobility, next-generation semiconductors, and cybersecurity. By linking the university's education and research infrastructure with a regional cooperation system, it designed a support structure that enables resident corporations to progress from technology development to actual market entry.
Soongsil University Campus Town operates practical training centered on AI technologies such as prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). Last year, it produced more than 200 AI practitioners. In internship programs linked with local startups, some participants transitioned to regular employment. It narrowed the gap between on-site labor demand and the curriculum.
It is also pursuing scale-up support tailored to the growth stage of startup corporations. In collaboration with operators of the TIPS program—led by private investors to discover and support promising technology startup corporations—it is facilitating investment matching. Some resident corporations achieved follow-up results such as selection for government support projects or attracting investment.
Region-linked demonstration projects are also one of the main pillars. In cooperation with Dongjak District, it promoted projects reflecting local demand, such as senior healthcare and a local economy platform, and some projects were included in this year's main budget of the local government and selected as ongoing programs. It built a collaboration model among the university, local government, and corporations with a focus on demonstrations.
Soongsil University Campus Town is systematically supporting patent strategies for global expansion, overseas filings, and cooperation with global accelerators. Some corporations have been recognized for both technological strength and marketability, including winning innovation awards at the world's largest IT exhibition.
Based on its achievements so far, Soongsil University Campus Town plans to advance a support system that runs from talent development to the growth of startup corporations, market validation, and global expansion.
Director General Kwak Won-jun of the Soongsil University Campus Town project group said, "We will continuously expand an innovative startup ecosystem that grows together with the region, centered on AI capabilities," and added, "We will establish ourselves as a university campus town model that leads AI-based technology startups."