The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 19th it is recruiting participants for the "second Entrepreneurship for All project," aimed at prospective founders with innovative ideas.
Applications are open from 9 a.m. on the 20th to 4 p.m. on the 17th of next month. Applications can be submitted online through the Entrepreneurship for All platform.
This project will select 10,000 people, twice as many as the first round. It will pick 8,000 in the general and technology categories, and 2,000 in the local category, which discovers business ideas based on regional resources. At least 80% of all selectees will be prospective founders, and to boost local entrepreneurship, at least 70% will be chosen from outside the greater Seoul area.
It also lowered the barrier for existing founders to participate. For existing business owners seeking to start a new venture in a different industry, the track record requirement was expanded from within 3 years to within 7 years.
The number of incubating institutions supporting participants will increase to about 170. Hana Bank, Shinhan Square Bridge, and Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) will newly participate to provide startup education and consulting.
The selection method will also be revamped. A multi-faceted evaluation by three mentors will be introduced, and a verification process will check whether submitted materials were generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and the possibility of plagiarism. For return challengers who took part in the first project, improvements to their original ideas and records of mentoring participation will be reflected in the evaluation for preferential treatment. A question was also added to the existing items to describe the challenger's capabilities and startup preparation process.
Selected participants will receive startup activity funds along with about 50 AI solutions chosen by experts. The scope of eligible use for the startup activity funds was broadened to include online payment gateway (PG) industries.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will hold a briefing session as recruitment begins to outline its direction and incubation programs. Starting on the 21st, offline briefings will also be held in 17 regions nationwide. In the first project, which began in Mar., more than 63,000 people applied, the most among government startup and idea contests.
Cho Kyung-won, startup policy director at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "For this second project, we reflected voices from the field to widen the door to challenge and further advance the support system," and added, "We hope for unhesitating challenges and participation from those who are not afraid of failure and want to bring their ideas to the world."