SMEs ministry holds second campus tour for youth startup project at Korea University

The SMEs ministry held the second campus tour for its Everyone's Startup project at Korea University on Thursday, bringing together first-round challengers, mentors and students.

First Vice Minister Noh Yong-seok listened to concerns about the burden of failure, career paths after starting a company and the need for networking with senior entrepreneurs, while outlining the government's direction for supporting young founders. The event was organized to inform potential participants of support details and share the experiences of those who have already begun the challenge.

Korea University, serving as a mentor institution, presented its operational results from the first phase and its incubation direction for the next. To reduce the academic burden on students and encourage entrepreneurial challenges, the university expanded the basic allowed period for startup leave from two years to three this year, with provisions to extend it in one-year increments thereafter. Noh discussed these startup-friendly academic systems and plans to activate entrepreneurship within the university with officials prior to the event.

During a talk concert, mentors and first-round challengers shared their motivations for joining the project, along with the trial-and-error experiences they faced while refining their ideas and how they overcame them. Based on their actual use of mentoring, startup activity funds and artificial intelligence solutions, the participants offered advice to young people currently preparing to start businesses.

"Universities are the most important starting point where new ideas, technologies, and talents gather to lead to entrepreneurship," Noh said. "I hope that the trial-and-error and experiences of entrepreneurs who challenged themselves first today will serve as an opportunity for students considering startups to think, 'I can try it too.'"

The Everyone's Startup project is a platform designed to support anyone with an idea and the will to challenge themselves. The first round attracted approximately 63,000 participants, with 1,100 challengers advancing to further develop their concepts through idea screening and mentoring. To continue this momentum, the selection scale for the second round has been doubled to 10,000 people. Applications are being accepted through the project website until 4 p.m. on September 17.