SKKU Selected as Lead Institution for MSIT’s “TeX-Corp” Phase 3 Project… Leaping Forward as a Hub for Laboratory Startups
- Secured KRW 7.5 Billion Over Five Years Starting in 2026, Providing Comprehensive Support for Master’s- and Doctoral-Level Deep Tech Startups
- Recognized for Discovering the Highest Number of Teams for Eight Consecutive Years… Advancing into Global Markets through the U.S. NSF’s I-Corps Methodology
▲ Launch Ceremony of the Alumni Network S-Corps
The Start-up Support Center (Director: Professor Kyong Hwan Kim) has been finally selected as the lead institution for the “2026 Public Technology-Based Market-Linked Startup Exploration Support Project (TeX-Corp)” hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
With this selection, Sungkyunkwan University will receive KRW 1.5 billion annually from 2026 to 2030, totaling KRW 7.5 billion over five years. This funding provides a foundation for operating a long-term and stable startup incubation program that ensures outstanding research outcomes generated in university laboratories move beyond academic publications and are developed into viable business models for commercialization.
SKKU plans to provide prototype production support and professional mentoring to preliminary startup teams that have completed market exploration. In addition, by linking these efforts with “S-Corps,” SKKU’s distinctive and robust alumni network program, the University will offer continuous acceleration support. Through this approach, it aims to facilitate tangible growth for startups, including entry into domestic and global markets and successful investment attraction. In particular, the University will strengthen entrepreneurship education centered on master’s- and doctoral-level personnel, thereby reinforcing a virtuous cycle in which advanced university research capabilities contribute to value creation in the national economy.
SKKU has already demonstrated outstanding performance in operating the TeX-Corp project from 2018 to 2025, discovering and nurturing the largest number of laboratory startup exploration teams among domestic universities. This achievement once again confirms that SKKU’s unique system in the field of “market-linked startups,” which brings technologies out of laboratories and into the marketplace, has earned national trust.
The “TeX-Corp Phase 3” project, promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT through 2030, is designed to provide comprehensive support throughout the entire commercialization process to prevent research outcomes from universities and government-funded research institutes from remaining unused. A core component of this initiative is the application of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) advanced entrepreneurship education framework, the I-Corps methodology. Selected startup teams will move beyond the idea stage by directly engaging with domestic and international prospective customers, conducting dozens of interviews to identify market needs, and refining their business models under expert guidance.
Kyong Hwan Kim, Director of the Startup Support Foundation (also Dean of the Graduate School of Global Entrepreneurship), stated, “Based on the operational know-how and achievements accumulated over the past eight years, we will establish a leading model that reshapes the landscape of laboratory-based technology startups over the next five years.” He added, “We will serve as a reliable partner so that graduate student researchers can confidently challenge the market based on their excellent research outcomes without fear of failure.”
List
