Institute for Startup KAIST Newsletter

December, 2020

In 2020, all Startup KAIST programs were held online due to COVID-19. KAIST Tech Day and Lunch Talks were pre-recorded and conducted through Zoom Webina, and E*5 KAIST, E*5 LabStartup, and Startup-tings were held through Zoom for real-time communication with participants.

2020 X-IST Competition

Five major institutes of science and technology (KAIST, GIST, DGIST, UNIST, POSTECH) hold annual joint startup competitions among promising startups from each university to strength the solidarity of startups and propel competition, creating a student startup ecosystem. This year, the competition was held at GIST, and online due to COVID-19.

On December 4, Jin-Oh Kim, a Ph.D. student at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (advisory professor: Steve Park), of team Aldaver presented “Developing the next generation artificial cadaver technology using functional hydrogel”, and won the Grand Prize (Minister Prize of the Ministry of Science and ICT).

2020 E*5 KAIST 

E*5 KAIST is Startup KAIST’s student startup supporting program, and 2020 Fall was the 17^th season of the program. Due to COVID-19, all missions and activities were held online. Through the first mission, 18 teams out of 25 teams were selected. After the final round, team COSMOS was awarded Grand Prize (1^st), team Carillon was awarded Award of Excellence (2^nd), and team Dearplant was awarded Awarded of Excellence (3^rd). In addition, team Frauen won Special Prize and the Activity Award.

2020 E*5Labstartup

E*5 LabStartup is a newly established lab-based startup audition program to verify and support research-based items with high potential for commercialization. Unlike E*5 KAIST, it is a lab-based program. This year, a total of 15 teams applied, and 3 teams – Aldaver, Spidercore, TOVDATA – were selected.

2020 KAIST Startup Awards

Startup KAIST holds ‘KAIST Startup Awards’ to support startup activities for teams selected through startup audition programs. Due to COVID-19, Startup KAIST could not provide the opportunity to attend CES. However, through the awards Startup KAIST discovered startup teams and plan to foster them as a unicorn company through continuous support. Chequer won Grand Prize (1^st), and SelectStar won Award of Excellence (2^nd), and QuantumCat and Dolbomdream won Awards of Excellence (3^rd).

2020 KAIST TECH DAY

Startup KAIST holds TECH DAY annually to expand the tech-based startup system, discover and support future entrepreneurs, and promote networking. Due to COVID-19, ISK Forum and Tech Demo was conducted online. Although the event was held online, there were even more participants who joined the event!

2020 Entrepreneurship Lunch Talk

Entrepreneurship Lunch Talk introduces the startup stories of professionals in various fields. In 2020 Fall, there were companies as well as VCs, giving us different perspectives on startups. Due to COVID-19, Lunch Talks were held through Zoom Webina. There were 4 Lunch Talks this semester, starting with Mirae Holdings in September, GO PIZZA in October, FuriosaAI in November, and Bon Angels Venture Partners in December.

> Watch Lunch Talk Highlights

2020 KAIST Startup Ting

Startup-ting was held online in 2020 Fall as well. In the spring, Startup-ting was streamed on Youtube, but to allow communication between participants and companies, the program was held using Zoom. Chequer, FuriosaAI, Mindlogic, Neofect, and Curocell joined us for 2020 Fall Startup-ting.

> Watch Fall Startup Ting Highlights

E*5 KAIST & End run Corporate Trends

ISK Annual Report 2019

Startup KAIST endeavors to establish an ecosystem that spreads entrepreneurship spirit on campus and support tech-based startups. We publish the ISK Annual Report every year. The 2019 Annual Report includes introduction to Startup KAIST, and interviews of programs and startups held in 2019. For more information, please click on the brochure above.