The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 2nd that from the 3rd to 4 p.m. on the 23rd it will recruit corporations to participate in the "2026 startup-centered university support project" and move to energize the startup ecosystem.
This project is a program that helps founders by using universities' technology, infrastructure, and industry-academia cooperation networks. It will run as a ▲region-based type and a ▲university-specific type, and plans to support 757 prospective founders and startup corporations at 11 startup-centered universities across six regions.
The region-based type, which supports startup corporations in each region, provides selected firms with up to 100 million won in commercialization funds and university-specific startup support programs. This year, at least 60% of the selected corporations will be chosen on a priority basis as young founders age 39 or under.
The university-specific type was introduced this year for the first time so that outstanding university technologies and research achievements can lead to startups. It backs graduate and undergraduate students who have items related to each university's core industries such as biotech and artificial intelligence, and corporations that have received investment from university technology holding companies. If selected, they can receive up to 150 million won in commercialization funds, mentoring, and investment attraction support.
Applications should be submitted on the K-Startup website. The final recipients will be selected after document screening and presentation evaluations. The "first-ever young prospective founder" track operated last year will be integrated into the national startup audition "Everyone's Startup Project."
Cho Kyung-won, entrepreneurship policy director at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "This year we plan to actively support young people's challenges by expanding the priority selection ratio for youth and giving extra points to young startup corporations with a record of retrying," adding, "We will expand support so that startup-centered universities, as regional hubs, can systematically back the growth of promising startup corporations."