![200 teams advanced to last year's challenge! Participants of the K-Startup 2023 competition pose for photos at Front 1, a startup hub in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Tuesday. [MINISTRY OF SMES AND STARTUPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/04/03/5c3676a4-b206-466a-8a04-9addff34e20a.jpg)
200 teams advanced to last year’s challenge! Participants of the K-Startup 2023 competition pose for photos at Front 1, a startup hub in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Tuesday. [MINISTRY OF SMES AND STARTUPS]
The Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups announced on Tuesday that it is accepting applications for a startup contest titled “Challenge!” K-Startup 2024.
Challenge! K-Startup is an annual startup competition sponsored by the government since 2016.
Applications for the preliminary round, hosted by Startup Ministries, will open on Monday and run for one month until April 29th.
The contest is sponsored by 10 ministries, including the Ministry of Startup, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of the Environment. The winner will receive up to 30 million won (approximately $22,170) in prize money.
Each ministry carries out the preparation process differently to handpick the startups with the best pitches in each organization’s respective field. In particular, Startup Ministry he is holding two different qualifiers. One is open to anyone with his business idea, including those who have already been running a startup for less than three years, and the other is specific to university clubs.
This month’s round is open to the public and is one of 11 qualifying rounds.
This is also the only round that applies to people who are already running a startup. For rounds sponsored by other ministries and agencies, only those preparing to start a business can apply.
A spokesperson for the Creative Economy and Innovation Center, an agency under the Ministry of Startups in charge of this month’s qualifying round, said applicants for this round were of any nationality.
For international students, there is a separate application track organized by the Ministry of Education. This round is called 2024 Promising Student Startup Team 300+ (International Students). A non-Korean student must be the team leader,
Korean members can also participate. Applications will begin on April 15th and close on April 30th.
It is not possible to apply for multiple qualifying rounds on the same pitch.
Written by Kim Ji Hee [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]
