Government-Funded Institutes Achieve Startup Success: NST Platform Secures KRW 3.3 Billion in Commercialization Funds in First Half

Selected for Multiple Government Support Programs, Including Prospective Startup Package and Deep Science Startups
End-to-End Support from Commercialization of Research Results to Startup Launches... Expanding the Deep Tech Startup Ecosystem

As the government pursues technology startups and deep tech development as a national growth strategy, the startup planning platform operated by government-funded research institutes under the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) is producing tangible results. In just the first half of this year, researchers at these institutions secured over 3.3 billion won in commercialization funds through government startup support programs, marking the full-scale commercialization of their research achievements.

On July 28, the NST announced that the startup planning support platform—managed by the commercialization joint task force (TF) of government-funded institutes—helped prospective startup teams achieve a series of successes in government startup support programs and entrepreneurship competitions in the first half of the year.

The startup planning platform is characterized by supporting the entire startup process: from concretizing researchers’ technologies into business items tailored to market demand, establishing commercialization strategies, building teams, accelerating, and linking with startup support programs across ministries.

Last year, teams participating in the ‘Challenge! K-Startup 2025’ researcher league won the top and excellence awards in the prospective startup category, and in the grand finals of the pre-startup league, they received the Prime Minister’s Award, the highest honor.

Continued Selection for Government Startup Support Programs

This momentum continued in government startup support programs in the first half of the year.

In the in-house venture category of the Prospective Startup Package program, 16 teams were selected and secured more than 1.3 billion won in commercialization funding. In the ‘TeX-Corps’ public technology-based deep tech startup exploration program, 18 teams were selected and received 900 million won, while in the Deep Science Startup Activation support program, four teams secured 1.1 billion won in commercialization funds.

In addition, two teams were selected for the University-Centered Startup Support Project, and two teams for the 5-Keystone, 3-Special R&D Districts Deep Tech Support Project, thereby expanding the foundation for startup activities.

There were also achievements in startup competitions. In the ‘2026 Daedeok Innopolis Deep Tech Prospective Startup Competition,’ Cheolhun Park of the Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials won the grand prize, Cheolho Park of the Korea Institute of Energy Research received the excellence award, and Seungnam Yoo and Gilbyeong Chae of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute won the merit award.

In the science and technology entrepreneurship competition’s pre-startup track, three teams passed the presentation screening, and three teams in the ‘Startup for All Project’ are currently being evaluated for advancement to the second round. The NST explained that it is building a growth ladder by linking to follow-up startup support programs.

The startup planning platform is also expanding joint startups and connections to startup support programs among participating institutes. By linking each institution’s technology commercialization capabilities and entrepreneurial support resources, it is evaluated to contribute to creating a startup ecosystem in which research outcomes flow directly to the market.

Hong Sunggwan, Director of Technology Commercialization at NST, said, “Through the startup planning platform, we will continue to expand inter-institutional cooperation and support for startups so that the outstanding research achievements of our institutes can lead to new companies and industries. We will strengthen support to ensure research outcomes are disseminated to the industry and market not just through technology transfer, but also through startup creation.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.