The Gyeongnam Creative Economy Innovation Center (CEO Noh Chung-sik) is fostering youth entrepreneurial talent in the Ulsan region in collaboration with UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology). The Gyeongnam Creative Economy Innovation Center announced that it held the ‘2026 Level-Up School Startup Idea Bootcamp’ for approximately 60 middle and high school students from startup clubs in the Ulsan region at the UNIST Industry-Academic Cooperation Center for two days from the 20th to the 21st.
This program was operated as a practical startup camp designed to enable youths to go beyond simple idea generation and validate and develop business models from the perspectives of the market and customers. In particular, officials from Ulsan City and the Ulsan City Office of Education visited the site in person during the event to observe the training process, demonstrating significant interest.
Education office supervisors and city officials who toured the site remarked, “The process of verifying and refining ideas from a consumer perspective, going beyond simple theoretical entrepreneurship education, was impressive,” and evaluated it as “an exemplary case that presented a practical breakthrough for students preparing for the Korea Youth Entrepreneurship Competition.”
Validating business models from a consumer perspective… and even AI-powered mock IRs
This camp was operated by restructuring the Gyeongnam Creative Economy Innovation Center’s flagship acceleration program, the ‘CORN (Customer Oriented ReNovation)’ project, to suit the perspective of youth.
The CORN project is a program focused on transforming supplier-centric ideas into customer-centric, problem-solving businesses. Participating students experienced the process of re-examining their conceived startup ideas from a consumer perspective and verifying their marketability and business viability.
In addition, they utilized generative AI tools to enhance market research and business plan development, and experienced the actual startup process by conducting mock Investor Relations (IR) pitching sessions in front of investors.
Students spent time developing their ideas into concrete business models by experiencing the entire startup process step-by-step, from defining customer problems and market analysis to validating solutions, designing business models, and preparing presentations.
Noh Chung-sik, CEO of the Gyeongnam Creative Economy Innovation Center, said, “The combination of UNIST’s excellent educational infrastructure and the Gyeongnam Creative Economy Innovation Center’s acceleration capabilities enabled us to provide high-quality entrepreneurship education to youth,” adding, “We will continue to expand cooperation with relevant local organizations to actively foster future innovative entrepreneurial talent.”
Meanwhile, the Gyeongnam Creative Economy Innovation Center operates various acceleration programs for prospective entrepreneurs and startups to revitalize the local startup ecosystem, and recently, it has also been expanding entrepreneurship education programs for youth and university students.
Related
