National Pukyong National University (President Bae Sang

National Pukyong National University (President Bae Sang-hoon) will recruit the second participant of the "2026 Everyone's Startup Project" for prospective start-ups and early start-ups with innovative start-up ideas.

Organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the "Everyone's Start-up Project" is a program to foster start-up talent to the public that helps anyone with creative ideas develop them to the actual commercialization stage, regardless of their start-up experience or preparation level. In particular, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to cooperate with base universities and start-up agencies across the country to spread the start-up infrastructure concentrated in the metropolitan area to the provinces and significantly strengthen the region-oriented start-up ecosystem.

The first round of recruitment attracted 63,000 applicants, and in this second project, the size of selection will be doubled from the previous one to recruit a total of 10,000 people. In particular, the application has been greatly expanded so that not only prospective start-ups without experience but also start-up companies within seven years of entering new fields can participate.

The selected participants will be provided with step-by-step customized support to shape their ideas and validate their market potential. If they advance to the first round, they will receive AI solutions and mentoring along with 2 million won in start-up activities, and if they advance to the upper round, they will provide up to 20 million won in commercialization funds for initial prototype (MVP) production. Furthermore, the winner of the final audition will be given up to 1 billion won in support opportunities, including prize money and investment links.

Pukyong National University will participate as a professional mentor organization for this project to focus on the process of completing the ideas of the challengers into a practical business model. Beyond simple business plan preparation training, current entrepreneurs and expert mentoring in each field will be linked from various angles to specify problems and target customers to solve, realize products and services, and establish market verification directions.

In particular, it has established "DRAGON VALLEY," an innovative space for industry-academic cooperation, centering on Yongdang Campus, and is operating a start-up and industry-academic cooperation infrastructure that connects start-up companies and local industries. It also has research and industry-academic cooperation foundations in various industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), software, semiconductors, and secondary batteries, as well as marine, fisheries, and bio fields, allowing challengers to develop technologies and ideas into businesses to utilize the university's startup infrastructure.

Through this recruitment, the university plans to actively support not only founders with high-quality business plans, but also prospective entrepreneurs who want to commercialize creative ideas discovered in everyday life or industrial sites.

Applications will be made online on the official website of Everyone's Start-up Project until 4 p.m. on September 17. In the process of filling out the application for challenge on the website, you can designate "National Pukyong National University" as a mentor institution.