The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 27th that nine ministries, including the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Education, will work together to promote the country's largest pan-ministerial startup competition, "K-Startup of the Year 2026."
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will newly push the "Startup for All Project" to discover and nurture prospective founders this year, reorganize "Challenge! K-Startup," which had been run in two areas of "pre-startup + early startup," into "K-Startup of the Year," and strengthen the support system focusing on early-stage corporations.
The top prize will also be raised from 300 million won to 500 million won to spread the startup boom. The priority selection pool for follow-up support programs such as the early startup package will be expanded from the top six teams to the top 20 teams, and a separate investment program will be newly established.
This year, to discover innovative artificial intelligence (AI) corporations, the competition will run 12 leagues, including an AI league newly created for that purpose, with nine ministries collaborating across innovative startup, student, defense, women, climate energy environment, tourism, intellectual property, defense science and technology, AI, researcher, content, and sports.
Preliminary leagues by ministry will run through Aug., after which 20 teams will be selected through an integrated main round featuring startup corporations that passed the preliminaries to advance to the final stage, the championship, in Dec. Through the championship, K-Startup of the Year will be selected and awarded up to 500 million won in prize money.
Corporations wishing to participate should check the integrated announcement posted on the K-Startup website and the detailed recruitment notices by the ministries operating the preliminary leagues, and apply within the application period.
Minister Han Seong-sook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) said, "We hope this competition will produce national representative innovative corporations through 'K-Startup of the Year,'" and added, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will firmly back the journey of startup talent along with the newly launched Startup for All Project this year."