SMEs ministry selects 100 startups for social innovation league

The SMEs ministry said Friday it has selected 100 participants for the first round of its Everyone's Startup Social Innovation Social Venture League, narrowing a field of 1,788 applicants. The competition rate reached 17.9 to one, surpassing the 12.6 to one recorded in the previous project.

The selection focused on five urgent societal tasks: resolving local care gaps, expanding employment, improving energy efficiency for vulnerable businesses, boosting SME productivity through AI, and promoting resource circulation. Care gap solutions accounted for 28 percent of the winners, followed closely by AI-driven productivity tools at 27 percent. Energy efficiency projects made up the smallest share at 5 percent.

The selected group includes 33 prospective entrepreneurs and 67 existing companies. Among the passing ventures were 26 certified venture firms, five social ventures, and three pre-social enterprises. Standout proposals included vision AI for caregiving behavior analysis and patch-type AI for facility management.

Each winner will receive 2 million won ($1,449) to support their impact activities before advancing to the next stage. The ministry plans to hold a second presentation evaluation on Sept. 10 and 11, where approximately 40 finalists will be selected.

Those 40 finalists will then undergo intensive mentoring worth 5 million won ($3,622) per team. Teams hoping to secure guarantees may also receive impact guarantee support depending on technical and business evaluations by the Korea Technology Finance Corporation starting in 2027. The process culminates in December during Venture Week, where about 10 final teams will present to the public and compete for commercialization funds ranging from 80 million won to 150 million won ($57,958 to $108,672).

Noh Yong-seok, the ministry's first vice minister serving as acting minister, emphasized that companies solving the biggest social problems can grow into leading innovators capable of capturing future markets. "The government remains committed to providing policy support so that entrepreneurs challenging social issues can leap forward as social ventures equipped with both innovation and growth potential," he added.