The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) will identify and commend entrepreneurs who succeeded in restarting businesses and contributors who supported business restarts.
The Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) announced on the 28th that it issued a notice for the "2026 outstanding contributors to revitalizing business restarts" awards on the 27th and will accept applications until 4 p.m. on Aug. 26.
This year's awards will confer 12 Minister of SMEs and Startups (MSS) commendations across two institutional sectors: eight for the "restarting corporations" institutional sector and four for the "support for restarts" institutional sector.
In the restarting corporations institutional sector, applications will be accepted through direct applications from restarting corporations and recommendations from support institutions such as the government, local governments, public institutions, venture capital (VC) firms, and accelerators (AC). In the support for restarts institutional sector, candidates will be recruited from restart support institutions and among contributors to restart support, and duplicate applications are not allowed.
Winners will receive a Minister of SMEs and Startups (MSS) commendation along with benefits such as a document screening waiver for the 2027 Rechallenge Success Package, additional points in the presentation screening, and preferential treatment for the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) restart support guarantee.
This year's ceremony is scheduled to be held in conjunction with the "day of rechallenge" event, the first initiative since the launch of the "rechallenge support headquarters."
Applications for the commendations will be accepted online through the K-Startup website.