Kakao Launches Second Semester of 'Tech for Impact Campus' AI Program at 13 Universities Nationwide

355 Students from 13 Universities Nationwide
Participation from All Four Major Science and Technology Institutes

The Kakao Impact Foundation announced on September 3 that it will launch the second semester of the "Tech for Impact Campus" for 2026, which will see the participation of 355 university students from 13 universities across the country.

This second semester marks the first phase of national expansion, based on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that the Kakao Impact Foundation signed with the Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education in April. Through this, a total of 18 universities will participate in the "Tech for Impact Campus" this year.

At the "Tech for Impact Campus Opening Meetup" held at Kakao Pangyo Ajit on the 24th of last month, university professors participating in the second semester course and representatives of social innovation organizations are taking a commemorative photo. Kakao

The Tech for Impact Campus is a regular course in which university students form teams with social innovation organizations to address social issues using artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. The program began in 2023 at the School of Computing at KAIST, and by the first semester of this year, a total of 482 students from nine universities had participated.

In the second semester, all four major science and technology institutes—KAIST, DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology), UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology), and GIST (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology)—will participate. In addition, courses will be offered at universities such as Keimyung University, Dongguk University, Busan University of Foreign Studies, Seoul Women's University, and Halla University linked with the Ministry of Education's AI Basic Curriculum initiative, as well as Gachon University, Korea University Sejong Campus, Seoul National University, and the University of Seoul.

This semester, the range of participating majors has also been expanded. Alongside engineering, students majoring in medicine, social sciences, marketing, and other diverse fields will join, undertaking interdisciplinary projects that integrate their specialized knowledge with AI and digital technologies.

Connections with local communities will also be strengthened. Twenty-one social innovation organizations, selected through a nationwide competition, will be matched with universities in respective regions. Over the course of the semester, students will visit local sites to identify problems and develop AI- and technology-based solutions that can be directly applied to these real-world scenarios.

Ryu Seokyoung, Chairperson of the Kakao Impact Foundation, stated, "In the era of AI, it is not only essential to possess technological skills, but also to have the experience of identifying and solving problems in one's surroundings. Through the Tech for Impact Campus, we will support university students in building experiences that enable them to address local issues with AI and their professional expertise."

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