In Just One Day... Dongmyung University, Residents and Students Team Up with AI to Solve Local Issues

“Makers School” Hackathon Held

Outstanding Ideas Linked to Commercialization

A hands-on program where local residents and university students teamed up to tackle regional issues using generative AI was recently held in Busan.

Dongmyung University (president: Lee Sangcheol) announced on July 28 that it hosted the "Community + Student Makers School" on July 25 at the Hu&Work Seogu Workation Center in Busan, where local residents and university students sought solutions to address local challenges together.

This program departed from traditional lecture-based entrepreneurship education, adopting a hackathon format where the local community and the university jointly identified current issues and developed specific solutions using generative AI.

Participants began with a special lecture on entrepreneurship and case analysis, followed by identifying regional problems and generating solution ideas. They then used AI to flesh out these ideas, designed minimum viable products (MVPs), and presented their outcomes.

During the competition, various local business models were presented, combining the real-life experience of local residents with the expertise of the university. The participants demonstrated results with high commercialization potential by visualizing their ideas and designing service models with generative AI.

Dongmyung University plans to support promising ideas by providing follow-up mentoring and linking them to the university’s startup support programs, helping them lead to real entrepreneurial ventures.

No Seongyeo, head of the Startup Support Division, said, "As AI technology becomes more widespread, the role of makerspaces is also changing," adding, "This initiative became an opportunity for local residents and youth to develop business ideas that address regional issues by leveraging AI."

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