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KAIST GESS Team Awarded Honorable Mention at 2025 Entrepreneurship Olympiad
<Photo: eaureco team at the final pitch>
The KAIST Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS) winning team, eaureco, earned an Honorable Mention at the 2025 Entrepreneurship Olympiad, held July 21–23 at Stanford Faculty Club and hosted by Techdev Academy. Competing in the college track, the team showcased their innovative solution among participants from top institutions including Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego.
Team eaureco—comprising KAIST undergraduate and graduate students Jiwon Park(Semiconductor Systems Engineering), Si Li Sara (Julia) Aow, Lunar Sebastian Widjaja (both Civil & Environmental Engineering), Seoyeon Jang (Impact MBA), and Isabel Alexandra Cornejo Lima (BTM/Global Digital Innovation)—presented a B2B solution that upcycles discarded seaweed into biodegradable ice packs for cold-chain companies. Their business model was recognized for its alignment with sustainability, resource circulation, and social impact goals.
<Photo: eaureco team preparing for the final pitch>
The team’s ability to rapidly adapt their pitch based on mentor feedback and clearly communicate the value of their idea to judges contributed to their recognition. This accomplishment further highlights the impact of KAIST's GESS program, which supports students in building real-world entrepreneurial skills through immersive learning experiences in Silicon Valley.
“The GESS program helped us refine every aspect of our business idea—from identifying the problem to developing a go-to-market strategy,” said Si Li Sara (Julia) Aow, a member of the eaureco team. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to showcase our work on a global stage and hope to continue developing innovations that drive meaningful change.”
“This award reaffirms the creative potential and practical capabilities of KAIST students in global innovation ecosystems,” said Dr. Soyoung Kim, Vice President of International Office. “We will continue to invest in programs like GESS to empower our students as future leaders in entrepreneurship.”
The Entrepreneurship Olympiad is a global event designed to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration among young change-makers. This year’s program featured keynote talks, panels, and workshops led by industry pioneers including Marc Tarpenning (Co-founder, Tesla Motors), Pat Brown (Founder, Impossible Foods), and other influential entrepreneurs from the biotech, fintech, and deeptech sectors.
The Honorable Mention recognition underscores KAIST’s commitment to global entrepreneurship education and the growing international visibility of the GESS program.
2025.07.29 View 2653 -
2025 KAIST Global Entrepreneurship Summer School Concludes Successfully in Silicon Valley
< A group photo taken at the 2025 GESS Special Lecture.Vice President So Young Kim from the International Office, VC Jay Eum from GFT Ventures, Professor Byungchae Jin from the Impact MBA Program at the Business School, and Research Assistant Professor Sooa Lee from the Office of Global Initiative>
The “2025 KAIST Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (2025 KAIST GESS),” organized by the Office of Global Initiative of the KAIST International Office (Vice President So Young Kim), successfully concluded. Now in its fourth year, the program was designed to provide KAIST students with firsthand experience of the world’s leading startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley, USA, and to strengthen their practical capabilities to take on challenges on the global stage.
This year’s 2025 KAIST GESS welcomed approximately 40 participants, including 24 undergraduate and graduate students selected through document screening, interviews, team presentations, mentoring, and peer evaluations, as well as 16 Impact MBA students from the College of Business. The selected undergraduate and graduate participants underwent two months of pre-program training and received mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs to refine their business models and elevate their project ideas. Meanwhile, Impact MBA students joined the Silicon Valley program onsite, attending key lectures and networking sessions to broaden their understanding of the global startup ecosystem.
From June 22nd, participants spent seven days in Silicon Valley completing the global entrepreneurship curriculum. The program was operated in cooperation with major organizations including the KOTRA Silicon Valley IT Center, Korea-US AI Semiconductor Innovation Center (K-ASIC), and Plug and Play Tech Center. Local experts delivered lectures on topics such as “Startup Culture,” “Learning from Failures” and “Networks and Capital.”
Participants also had the opportunity to visit startups led by KAIST alumni and local entrepreneurs, gaining valuable insights from firsthand stories about global entrepreneurship. Companies visited included Medic Life Sciences (CEO Kyuho Han) and ImpriMed (CEO Sungwon Lim). Through these visits, participants received practical advice on market entry strategies and overcoming challenges in the global arena.
As part of their first onsite schedule, KAIST students attended an interactive fireside chat titled “Global Entrepreneurship and AI,” where they engaged in in-depth discussions on the future of AI-driven global startups. The session featured three distinguished speakers: Jay Kim, Head of US Business Development at Hyper Accel; Chandra Shekhar Dhir, AI/ML Director at JPMorgan Chase’s Machine Learning Center of Excellence; and Taesu Kim, co-founder of AI voice synthesis startup Neosapience and KAIST alumnus. Taesu Kim shared, “Facing serious health issues made me reflect on my life, and after recovering, I wanted to pursue something that could create a real impact on society, which led me to start my own company.” He also advised students to “take time at important turning points in life to deeply think about what you truly want to do and how you can contribute to society.
In line with the core value of ‘paying it forward’—a fundamental principle of global entrepreneurship learned in Silicon Valley—GESS participants engaged in a community service project titled “Let’s Play with AI+Tech,” organized in collaboration with the Sunnyvale community and Foothill College. Leveraging their strong foundation in AI, KAIST students designed and led a hands-on ‘Doodle AI’ educational program to make foundational AI concepts accessible and engaging for underrepresented local elementary school children and their parents, fostering meaningful community interaction.
On the final day of the 2025 KAIST GESS, a pitch competition was held with participation from Silicon Valley venture capitalists and accelerators. Participants presented their business models, developed over the two-month program, to a panel of judges. The winning team was eaureco, and Si Li Sara Aow (Civil and Environmental Engineering) shared, “GESS was a valuable opportunity to test and hone practical entrepreneurship skills beyond mere networking.” She added, “At first, I lacked confidence, but challenging myself to pitch in the final presentation gave me the courage to take one step closer to global entrepreneurship. Pitching in Silicon Valley, the heart of global startups, was an invaluable experience that will shape my path as a global entrepreneur.”
The program concluded with a special lecture by Jay Eum, a seasoned Silicon Valley venture capitalist and a judging panel member for GESS over the past three years. He shared key insights on startup success from an investor’s perspective, advising, “The journey of entrepreneurship is never easy, but the sooner you start, the better.” He further encouraged participants to “focus on solving problems in local markets, but do not fear challenging global markets,” inspiring them with courage and actionable advice.
So Young Kim, Director of the KAIST Office of Global Initiative, said, “We hope the 2025 KAIST GESS serves as a stepping stone for KAIST students to grow into influential entrepreneurs on the global stage,” adding, “This program is also expected to further enhance KAIST’s international reputation.”
Byungchae Jin, Faculty Chair of the KAIST Impact MBA, College of Business, highlighted the program's educational benefits, stating, “Engaging directly with local entrepreneurs and gaining practical experience in Silicon Valley's startup environment provide students with hands-on learning and significant inspiration.”
The 2025 KAIST GESS was jointly hosted by the KAIST Office of Global Initiative, Impact MBA, and Startup KAIST. Moving forward, KAIST plans to continue expanding its field-based global entrepreneurship education by linking with key global hubs like Silicon Valley, fostering next-generation global leaders who will lead innovation and challenge the status quo.
2025.07.01 View 4808 -
The 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS 2024) Successfully Completed in Silicon Valley
The 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (2024 KAIST GESS), hosted by the Office of Global Initiatives under the KAIST International Office (Director Man-Sung Yim), was held for the third time. This program allows students to visit Silicon Valley, a global startup hub, to directly experience its famous startup ecosystem and develop their capabilities for global expansion. A total of 20 students were selected through applications, interviews, final presentations, mentoring, and peer evaluations. Additionally, 17 students from the KAIST Impact MBA course at the KAIST Business School also participated.
Before starting the Silicon Valley program, participants received mentoring on business model development and pitching advice from a senior entrepreneur at KAIST for about two months, beginning last May. Afterward, they developed business items for each team at KAIST’s main campus in Daejeon. For seven days, starting from June 23rd, workshops were held under the themes of global entrepreneurship, learning through failure, capital and network, and startup culture at KOTRA Silicon Valley Trade Center, JP Morgan, and Plug and Play Tech Center. This program's lecture series provided prospective entrepreneurs with the opportunity to systematically learn the mindset and gain the experience needed to start a global business.
The participants also visited local companies and gained experience in the field of global technology startups. Visits included Bear Robotics (CEO John Ha), Soundable Health (CEO Cathering Song), ImpriMed (CEO Sungwon Lim), Phantom AI (CEO Hyunggi Cho), B Garage (CEO Aiden Kim), and Simple Steps (CEO Doyeon Kim). Lectures contained vivid experiences from Silicon Valley CEOs and company tours boosted the students' passion for entrepreneurship. In particular, Doyeon Kim, CEO of Simple Steps, which helps prevent career breaks for Korean female immigrants in Silicon Valley and allows talented female immigrants to demonstrate their abilities in society, said, “As a KAIST alumna entrepreneur, it was meaningful to share my experience with this generation of students who dream of starting a global business and creating social enterprises in the United States.”
This program also included a tour of Silicon Valley's big tech companies that have made a significant impact on the digital ecosystem through technological advancement and innovation. This included Broadcom, which maintains a strong global presence in the semiconductor and infrastructure software technology fields. At the invitation of Chairman Hock Tan, GESS participants had the opportunity to attend his lecture and ask questions. Chairman Tan, who received an honorary doctorate in engineering from KAIST last February, emphasized that experiencing failure and giving consistent effort over a long period of time are more important than anything else in order to grow as a global entrepreneur, and that technologies influencing the global market evolve over generations.
< Photo. Group photo of GESS 2024 participants at Broadcom with Chairman Hock Tan (center) ⓒBroadcom>
As part of this program, participants conducted a volunteer program called 'Let's play with AI+ Tech' with the Sunnyvale community in Silicon Valley and Foothill College to help grow together with the community. Through this program, GESS participants cultivated the virtues of a global leader. In this volunteer activity, low-income elementary school students and parents from the Sunnyvale community participated in chatbot training led by KAIST students, providing an opportunity to work with underprivileged groups in the local community.
In the final pitching event, the highlight of the program, local venture investors from Silicon Valley were invited as judges and evaluated the pitches for each team's business items. The participating students, who developed their own business models while receiving advice through face-to-face mentoring from a professional accelerator in Silicon Valley, showcased their creative and innovative ideas, presenting themselves as future global entrepreneurs. Merey Makhmutova (BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering) from the K-Bridge team, who won the final pitch, expressed her ambition: “Even before GESS pitch day, our team kept refining the pitch deck as we attended the lectures and benefitted from the mentoring. Our intense teamwork was a significant reason why we ultimately won first prize.” She added that K-Bridge aims to win an award at the upcoming UKC Pitching Competition and expressed her gratitude for being able to participate in this program. Arseniy Kan (BS in Electrical Engineering) from the KAIST Enablers team, who took second place, said, “The 2024 KAIST GESS Program became the most unforgettable and precious opportunity of my lifetime, and I dream of using this opportunity as a stepping stone to becoming a global entrepreneur.“ Additionally, Kangster (CEO Kang Kim), who won the Impact MBA final pitching session, had the opportunity to secure a meeting with a local investment company after their GESS final pitch.
The 2024 KAIST GESS was held in cooperation with the KAIST International Office, the KAIST College of Business, and Startup KAIST. Director Man-Sung Yim from the Office of Global Initiatives, who hosted the event, said, “KAIST students will grow into leaders with global influence and contribute to the international community by creating global value. At the same time, we hope to raise the international status of our university.” Professor Sangchan Park, who led the 17 Impact MBA students in this educational program, added, “Meeting with companies leading the global market and visiting Silicon Valley has been a valuable learning experience for students aiming to start a global startup.”
KAIST plans to continue promoting its global entrepreneurship education program by enriching its curriculum each year and helping students grow into entrepreneurs with the virtues of global leaders.
2024.07.03 View 15981 -
2023 Global Entrepreneurship Summer School in Silicon Valley Successfully Concluded
< 2023 Silicon Valley Global Entrepreneurship Summer School Participants >
The 2023 KAIST Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS) was successfully held. Co-hosted by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning (GSP) (Director Man-Sung Yim) and the Startup KAIST (Director Hyeonmin Bae), the 2023 KAIST GESS was the second one of the summer programs, repeating the Silicon Valley global entrepreneurship bootcamp of 2022 (2022 GESC), based on industry-academia collaboration. This program was designed to provide students with the opportunity to visit Silicon Valley, the global hub of entrepreneurship, and personally experience the Silicon Valley culture while developing human networks that would serve as a foundation for their overseas startup development.
A total of 20 participants were selected earlier this year, including potential KAISTian entrepreneurs and early-stage entrepreneurs from KAIST within one year of incorporation. In particular, a number of foreign students of various nationalities such as Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Honduras, Indonesia, Philippines, and Kazakhstan, increased significantly, demonstrating the enthusiasm for entrepreneurship across national boundaries along with the program's growing international status. This year's event was also open to 20 Impact MBA and Social Entrepreneur (SE) students from KAIST's College of Business for the Silicon Valley program.
For the past two months, the participants have trained on business model development and pitching at KAIST's main campus in Daejeon. From June 21st to the 30th, they visited the campuses of leading universities, such as, Stanford University, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Berkeley, as well as KOTRA Silicon Valley Trade Center (Manager Hyoung il Kim), and local alumni companies and Apple company to experience the global technology startups. The start-ups by KAIST alums including B Garage (CEO Aiden Kim), ImpriMed (CEO Sungwon Lim), Medic Life Sciences (CEO Kyuho Han), and VESSL AI (CEO Jaeman Ahn) participated in the program and gave lectures and company tours to inspire the participants to have passion to take on the entrepreneurial endeavors and challenges.
On the last day, the participants gave presentations on their team’s business items in front of local venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. After receiving continuous coaching from Silicon Valley's professional accelerators through remote video conferencing and face-to-face mentoring for the last two months, the participants developed their business models and presented their creative and innovative ideas, revealing their potential as future global entrepreneurs. At the final competition, Team Sparky that developed “Snoove” won the first prize. Snoove is a scientifically-proven mattress accessory that applies mild vibration to the mattress to aid users in achieving better sleep, a method previously used to soothe infants.
< GESS Pitching Day Presentation >
Kevin Choi from the Team Sparky said, "Seeing and experiencing the realities of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, a global startup scene, made me think about the importance of unlearning, challenging, and failing to be a global entrepreneur who contributes to our society." Man-Sung Yim, the Associate Vice President of the International Office, who organized the event added, "Through this experience, we expect KAIST students to grow to become global leaders who would create global values and enhance the international reputation of our university."
Meanwhile, the GSP and Startup KAIST commented that they will to continue to develop the KAIST GESS program to foster prospective entrepreneurs who can compete in the global market based on the success of this program.
2023.07.05 View 16245 -
The 1st Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp bridges KAIST and Silicon Valley, US
Twenty KAIST students gave a go at selling their business ideas to investors at Silicon Valley on the “Pitch Day” at 2022 Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp.
From Tuesday, June 21 to Monday, July 4, 2022, KAIST held the first Global Entrepreneurship Summer Camp (GESC).
The 2022 GESC, which was organized in collaboration with Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), KOTRA Silicon Valley IT Center, and KAIST Alumni at Silicon Valley, was a pilot program that offered opportunities of experiencing and learning about the cases of startup companies in Silicon Valley and a chance to expand businesses to Silicon Valley through networking.
Twenty KAIST students, including pre-startup entrepreneurs and students interested in global entrepreneurship with less than one year of business experience were selected. The first week of the program was organized by Startup KAIST while the second week program was organized by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning (GSP) at KAIST in collaboration with the Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP), KAIST Alumni at Silicon Valley, and KOTRA at Silicon Valley.
Dr. Mo-Yun Lei Fong, the Executive Director of STVP, said, “The program offered an opportunity for us to realize our vision of empowering aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovation. By collaborating with KAIST and offering entrepreneurial insights to Korean students, we are able to have a positive impact on a global scale.” Mo added, “The program also enabled STVP to build bridges, learn from the students, and refine our culturally relevant curriculum by understanding Korean culture and ideas.”
On the “Pitch Day” on July 1, following a special talk by Dr. Chong-Moon Lee, the Chairman of AmBex Venture Partners, the students presented their team business ideas such as an AI-assisted, noise-canceling pillow devised for better sleep, a metaverse dating application, an XR virtual conferencing system, and an AI language tutoring application to the entice global investors’ curiosity. The invited investors, majorly based in Silicon Valley, commented that all the presentation was very exciting, and the level of pitches was beyond the expectation considering that the students have given only two weeks.
Ms. Seunghee Lee of the team “Bored KAIST Yacht Club”, which was awarded the first prize, explained, “our item, called ‘Meta-Everland’, is a service that offers real-time dating experiences similar to off-line dates. The GESC taught me that anybody can launch a startup as long as they are willing. Developing a business model from ideation and taking it to the actual pitching was challenging, but it was a very thrilling experience at the same time.” Lee added, “Most importantly, over the course of the program and the final pitch, I found out that an interesting idea can attract investors interest even at a very early stage of the launching.”
Mr. Byunghoon Hwang, a student who attended the program said, “Having learned the thoughts and attitudes the people at the front line of Silicon Valley, my views on career and launching of a start-up have been expanded a lot.”
Ms. Marina Mondragon, another attendee at the program, also said that the program was very meaningful because she was able to learn the difference between the ecosystem for the new start-up businesses at Korea and at Silicon Valley through her talks with the CEOs at Silicon Valley.
The program was co-organized by the Center for Global Strategies and Planning at KAIST International Office and Startup of KAIST. Dr. Man-Sung Yim, the Associate Vice President for KAIST International Office, who guided students in Silicon Valley, said, “I believe the GESC program broadened the views and entrepreneurial mindset of students. After joining this program, students stepped forward to become a founder of startups.” In addition, Dr. Young-Tae Kim, the Associate Vice President of the Institute for Startup KAIST, addressed “Startup KAIST will support business items founded via the program through various other programs in order to enhance their competitiveness in the global market.”
The GSP and Startup KAIST will continuously revamp the program by selecting distinguished fellows to join the program and coming up with innovative startup items.
Profile:
Sooa Lee, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
slee900@kaist.ac.kr
Center for Global Strategies and Planning
Office of Global Initiatives
KAIST International Office
https://io.kaist.ac.kr
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)Daejeon, Republic of Korea
2022.07.05 View 19018 -
KAIST Entrepreneurial Partnership to Accelerate Startups and Venture Ecosystem
KAIST will launch the KAIST Entrepreneurial Partnership (KEP) program, which connects faculty members who own technology with those who want to launch startup.
The program encourages open innovation startups using strategies tailored to market-client demand requirements. This is also one of efforts to help realize ‘one startup per lab,’ initiated by President Kwang Hyung Lee’s new innovation strategy. KEP also aims to introduce the best technologies developing at KAIST to startups and to raise the success rate of technology commercialization.
The program will match KAIST faculty and student entrepreneur candidates with parties enrolled in the new Entrepreneur in Residence and Entrepreneurial Partner programs. Each team will be given a six-month test period with funding support.
KAIST will invite entrepreneurial experts from both technology and management fields to support the program participants. Around 30 experts with experience in developing new businesses, startups, and investments in large corporations or venture companies will be recruited as entrepreneurial partners. They will offer support for research and business development (R&BD), technology marketing, attracting venture investment from corporations, mergers and acquisitions, and business openings.
A survey showed that KAIST members who are interested in starting a business are experiencing difficulties finding an entrepreneurial expert (72.2%), with the complicated startup approval procedures (33.3%), and their lack of knowledge on entrepreneurship and funding (27.8%). The KEP program hopes to encourage KAIST faculty members and students who have well-developed business ideas and the appropriate technology but lack the capabilities to realize and develop them into a business.
Associate Vice President of Startups Young-Tae Kim said, “We will develop KEP into KAIST’s distinct entrepreneurial support system and produce exemplary outcomes of faculty and student startups. We will spread the startup DNA and lead the building of a virtuous cycle between entrepreneurship and the venture ecosystem.”
2021.10.14 View 9985 -
"It’s a Blessing": Lawyer Couple Donates 82 Acres of Land
Korea Abraham Lincoln Society Founder Kwak Sung-hyun and International IP Alternative Dispute Resolution Center (IIPAC) Chairman Kim Cheol-ho have committed to donate a large tract of land to KAIST during a ceremony on July 3. The couple will donate about 82 acres of land located in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. The value of the property is estimated at over 10 billion won.
Kim, a lawyer who taught at the Moon Soul Graduate School of Future Strategy from 2009 to 2014, said, “It is a real blessing to make a gift to KAIST."
The property is a part of family inheritance that has been passed down for generations. “We’ve thought about the right way to give back to society from a long-term perspective. KAIST will be the best place to honor my father’s generosity and spirit to help young students,” Kwak said at the ceremony.
Kwak’s late father who was also a lawyer was a big landowner in Seongnam City back in the 1970s. But he also had to buy nearby parcels of land because he could not refuse the local farmers asking him to buy their land when they urgently needed to sell their property to pay their children’s college tuition fees. So, he bought the land, paying more than double the asking price.
The couple finalized their donation plan after having a meeting with President Sung-Chul Shin earlier this year. President Shin personally guided them on a campus tour and presented his vision to make KAIST a world-class university.
“We were quite moved by President Shin and the faculty members’ passion and hard work. And we really wanted to help KAIST be the real top university in the world by educating young talents needed for the new era,” Kim said.
President Shin said the university will use the land to establish a new campus for entrepreneurship that combines education, research, and technology commercialization so that it can become an advance base in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.
2019.07.03 View 6995 -
Center for Industrial Future Strategy Takes Off at KAIST
(Professor Wonjoon Kim from the School of Business and Technology Management)
Professors from KAIST and major international universities launched a mega-scale research center focusing on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, named the Center for Industrial Future Strategy (CIFS).
This center is funded by the National Research Foundation Korea and will receive 2.25 billion KRW over four years.
Directed by Professor Wonjoon Kim from the School of Business and Technology Management, the center is comprised of ten top-tier researchers and four research associates, including Professor Hawoon Jeong (KAIST), Professor Scott Stern (MIT), Professor Aaron Chatterji (Duke University), Dr. Yong Suk Lee (Stanford University) and Professor Hyejin Youn (Northwestern University).
The center will conduct research on technical, social, and economic changes derived by a new paradigm of technological innovation.
Moreover, they will study policies and strategies in relation to innovation in the corporate and government sectors to achieve economic growth in a sustainable manner. The center will also propose policies and strategies in a variety of economic and industrial settings to establish a sustainable and global innovation ecosystem.
To carry out these studies successfully, CIFS will further expand the AIEA-NBER Conference with the Asia Innovation and Entrepreneurship Association (AIEA) and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in which numerous Nobel Laureates in Economics are affiliated. They will also comprise thematic research teams with co-founding universities to build stronger cooperation with one another.
Besides the academic cooperation, the center will also build partnerships with international organizations, including the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to carry out their missions at multilateral levels.
Their research topics include changes to value chains in a new paradigm of technological innovation, labor market changes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, sharing economies and social interests, big data, artificial intelligence & privacy policy, and innovation & ethical and institutional countermeasures to AI technology.
Professor Kim said, “The new paradigm of technological innovation is evolving social, economic, and industrial structures, such as R&D, industry, technology, labor, finance, and institutions. The Center will contribute to proposing policies and strategies so that Korea, as well as the international community, can take appropriate measures to these big changes.”
2018.09.11 View 15185 -
JETS Conference 2017
KAIST and four science and technology research universities in Korea co-hosted a technology start-up fair, the 2017 JETS (Job, Exhibition, Tech Forum, and Startup) Conference January 19 ~20 in the Ryu Geun-chul Sports Complex at KAIST.
Korea’s major science and technology research universities, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech), and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), held the event in a collaborative effort to educate, inspire, and connect young entrepreneurs, especially those who will launch technology start-ups.
The conference brought entrepreneurs and innovators together who seek ways of working with and supporting start-ups and for their sustainable growth. It also drew aspiring young students and researchers from universities and the government-funded research institutions who are in the process of commercializing their technology. Students from each university’s industry-academia cooperation program who incubated their technology and ideas were key contributors.
At the Tech Forum, entrepreneurship and technology consultation specialists including Joe Jasin, managing director at DNA Investment Partners in the US, the founder of Cyworld Dong-Hyung Lee, and Professor Hawoong Jeong, a complex bio-network specialist from the Department of Physics of KAIST lectured on the ecosystem of start-ups and its trends and development.
The Dean of University-Industry Cooperation at KAIST Joongmyeon Bae said, "We organized this event in collaboration with four major research universities to further encourage technology start-ups from young students and help their ideas and technology bear fruit. We will continue to strive to create an ecosystem of start-ups which works efficiently.”
(Above photo: Founder of the Cyworld, Dong-Hyung Lee gives a lecture at the Tech Forum. Below photo: Students visit exhibition booth of each participating institution.)
2017.01.20 View 17623 -
KAIST Ph.D. Candidate Wins the Next Generation of Engineers Award
Joo-Sung Kim, a doctoral student at the EEWS (Environment, Energy, Water and Sustainability) Graduate School won the inaugural Next Generation of Engineers Award in Leadership on December 14, 2016.
The National Academy of Engineering of Korea hosts this award to support creative and ambitious students who have the potential to become leaders in engineering and who will serve as role models for future Korean engineers. Based on the recommendations of university professors in engineering and members of the academy, seven students are selected for the award in the categories of leadership and entrepreneurship.
With his research focus on the development of high-performance, next-generation secondary cells for wearable devices such as smart watches, health bands, and smart eyewear, Joo-Sung created a startup, Lithium-ion Battery Energy Science and Technology (LiBEST), Inc. He plans to base his company at the Office of University and Industry Cooperation, KAIST, where he can receive assistance for launching the mass-production system for his technology.
His adviser, Professor Jang-Wook Choi of the EEWS Graduate School, noted, “Joo-Sung has been a great student who has a strong sense of curiosity and perseverance. The award is the by-product of his hard work.”
“I have always enjoyed my work and study as a researcher, but eventually would like to expand my career into business based on the results of my research. It would be wonderful if I could become a businessman like Elon Musk, Masayoshi Son, or Ma Yun and create a role model for aspiring engineers in Korea by combining science and technology with business demand to create social values that benefit many people,” Joo-Young said.
2016.12.26 View 15623 -
KAIST, NTU, and Technion Collaborate for Research in Emerging Fields
KAIST, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore, and Technion of Israel signed an agreement on April 11, 2016 in Seoul to create a five-year joint research program for some of the most innovative and entrepreneurial areas: robotics, medical technologies, satellites, materials science and engineering, and entrepreneurship. Under the agreement, the universities will also offer dual degree opportunities, exchange visits, and internships.
In the picture from the left, Bertil Andersson of NTU, Sung-Mo Kang of KAIST, and Peretz Lavie of Technion hold the signed memorandum of understanding.
2016.04.14 View 17420 -
KAIST Wins the Korea Donation for Education Awards 2015
KAIST received the grand prize for the university section at the Korea Donation for Education Awards 2015. The award ceremony took place at Seoul Plaza Hotel on December 15, 2015.
The Ministry of Education created the award in 2012 to raise awareness about the need for charitable donations for education and to encourage the public’s participation in such endeavors. Recipients have included private companies, public institutions, non-profit organizations, universities, and individuals who have made notable contributions to education, for example, by offering educational programs or fundraising for such programs throughout a year.
Many organizations within KAIST, including the KAIST Center of Donation for Education, the Midam Scholarship Committee, the Donation for Software Education Group, the Chalk Academy, KAIST Student Volunteers, and K-LET, have been collectively recognized for their efforts to develop educational materials and managing academic camps and programs.
In addition to the grand prize which KAIST won, the Ministry of Education gave Neung-In Jang, a student pursuing a social entrepreneurship MBA at KAIST, an award for his efforts to provide quality education to teenagers by establishing the Midam Scholarship Committee in 2009. The Scholarship aims to revitalize the culture of donation for education by offering free math and science classes to high school students who are less privileged and by inspiring other universities in Korea to follow suit the committee’s volunteering activities.
2015.12.22 View 13933