The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 30th it is recruiting participants for "Everyone's Startup: Social Innovation Social Venture League," which tackles social problems with innovative ideas and encourages people to start businesses.
The program selects urgent challenges, identifies entrepreneurs with relevant technology or ideas, and supports them so they can grow into social ventures.
The support areas are five: ◇ closing care gaps in local communities ◇ expanding jobs and social participation ◇ reducing energy expense and improving efficiency for small business sites and vulnerable groups ◇ strengthening productivity and innovation capacity for small merchants and small and medium-sized corporations using artificial intelligence (AI) ◇ promoting resource circulation and solving waste problems. Prospective founders or corporations within seven years of founding that have ways to solve social problems can apply.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will review the innovativeness and feasibility of the proposed solutions in a document screening and select about 100 corporations. Each selected corporation will receive 2 million won in impact activity support funds.
After a presentation evaluation, about 40 corporations will be shortlisted to receive intensive mentoring worth 5 million won per corporation for solution advancement, on-site applicability reviews, and use of public data. For corporations that want it, impact guarantees will also be linked and supported. The number of corporations supported may vary depending on the volume of applications and the level of proposed projects.
The final evaluation will be conducted in December at "Venture Week 2026" through public presentations. About 10 corporations will be selected, and up to 150 million won in commercialization funds will be provided per corporation.
Prospective founders and founding corporations who wish to participate can apply online at the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) ONE Platform by 6 p.m. on the 19th of next month.
No Yong-seok, first vice minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "The corporations that solve the biggest social problems will grow into the biggest innovative corporations and ultimately can preempt future markets," adding, "A social venture is not a corporation that merely pursues good values, but an innovative corporation that turns market failures and society's intractable problems into new technologies and business opportunities."