Ewha Leads Startup Culture
- 작성처
- Date2023.01.17
- 31250
In line with Ewha’s endeavor to serve as “A Creative and Innovative Platform Leading to a Sustainable Society” through creative research and educational innovation based on the “Ewha Vision 2030+” development strategy, the Office of Research and the Ewha University-Industry Collaboration Foundation (EUICF) is consolidating its efforts to establish a creative research ecosystem, by enhancing the value of the university’s research and technologies through industry-academy-research collaboration and innovative growth.
Ewha expands and reorganizes the “Support Corps for Business Startups” to provide customized support for startups throughout the education, support, and incubation phases
Ewha reorganized the Business Incubator under the EUICF and expanded it into the “Support Corps for Business Startups (SCBS),” with the aim to increase the efficiency of startup support and promote the startup culture on campus.
Recently, “technology commercialization” has become a buzzword in the startup market. Laboratory business startups, which are focused on technical capabilities based on tangible research achievements and patents, are producing outstanding outcomes in terms of job creation and corporate viability compared to idea-based business startups. In line with this trend, the SCBS, which has been expanded and reorganized this year, will respond more effectively to existing and future demand for startups and need for startup support, enhance customized support for startups throughout each phase of education, support, and incubation, and establish a collaborative system for identifying internal, external startup institutions and technology-based startups and supporting their technology commercialization.
Meanwhile, Ewha is providing systematic education on business startups through various programs including curricular and extracurricular courses and leading the expansion of the campus startup culture. Ewha has offered courses on entrepreneurship and business startups, and endeavored to establish startup-related courses to keep up with the increasing significance of related education and achievements at universities. As a result, the number of courses on business startups rose from 29 in 2021 to 60 in 2022, with a total of 2,561 students enrolled, recording a significant year-to-year increase. In addition, Ewha is responding quickly to changing trends, by establishing the “AI Convergence Startup Track” as part of a new 2022 TELOS Track system, with the aim to foster entrepreneurship and startup capabilities based on AI technologies. The rapid growth in the participation rate of various extracurricular courses in addition to the regular curriculum was also a notable accomplishment.
Ewha aims to expand startup infrastructure following its selection for various projects
Since its selection as a member of “Korean I-Corps” program by the Ministry of Science and ICT in May 2021, Ewha has actively supported laboratory business startups by leveraging public research outcomes, and operated various programs specialized for women, such as a mentor group comprised of female startup experts, education for technology startups, phased commercialization support, and a female technology forum for business startups. Through various support activities for the enhancement of youth business startup capabilities, Ewha received the highest S-grade from the “2022 Business Incubator Management Evaluation” by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, thereby earning recognition for its institutional and project management performance.
In particular, with Ewha’s selection for the “Integrated Seoul Campus Town Project,” the SCBS’s capabilities in identifying and cultivating outstanding startups are expected to play a major role in helping the school grow into a hub for youth startup clusters in northwestern Seoul.
Robust startup achievements by students and faculty members contribute to expanding startup culture
As Ewha’s control tower for startup support, the SCBS has expanded startup education, industry-academia collaboration, and startup infrastructure, while also providing systematic support for the commercialization of outstanding technologies, with the aim to support startups based on Ewha-specific university-industry collaboration. As a result, startups launched by faculty members and students are gradually beginning to bear fruit. VasThera Co, Ltd., a startup founded by Professor Sang Won Kang of the Department of Life Sciences, successfully attracted 18 billion KRW in investments thanks to the development of a new drug for the treatment of vascular diseases and reaffirmed its potential by receiving the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award for the “deep-tech” startup category.
Meanwhile, startups by Ewha students are also producing meaningful outcomes by attracting investments. For example, teams comprised of Ewha students won the first prize, excellence prize, and participation prize at the “2022 Industry-Academia Collaboration EXPO,” which was hosted by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea. This is the result of Ewha’s active support to nurture laboratory business startups by leveraging public research outcomes under the Korean I-Corps program.