SMEs ministry opens youth startup festival in Cheongju

The SMEs ministry said Tuesday it opened the 2026 Youth BizCool Festival, a three-day gathering of student entrepreneurs in Cheongju that will run through Thursday at the OSCO exhibition hall.

About 100 BizCool youth teams are participating, alongside 88 schools that run the BizCool program, the ministry said. The venue is divided into a school hall for those 88 schools, a corporate hall, a promotional hall and an "exciting zone."

The festival's theme is "a place where everyone's dreams stir and connect." In a statement, Mok Seung-hwan, who heads the ministry's startup and venture innovation office, described the event as a venue where young people cross the boundaries of school and region to link their ideas, discover new possibilities and grow.

Awards total 50, including 25 ministerial citations and five ministerial commendations, plus 16 citations and four commendations from the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development.

Organizers scheduled special lectures by Kwon Do-kyun, chief executive of the accelerator Primer, and Son Ju-eun, chairman of Megastudy, as well as a talk concert featuring four young founders.

"We will continue to actively support young people so that they can imagine and take on challenges without fear of failure and grow," Mok said.

The festival is part of BizCool, a ministry program that gives students experience running businesses while still in school.