The Ministry of Science and ICT held the 「2026 Science and Technology Startup Competition」 at the ST Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on August 12, selecting 14 outstanding (prospective) startup teams built on the achievements of public research. This year’s competition drew a record-high 279 teams, reflecting strong interest in deep-tech entrepreneurship.
 [코리안투데이] Awards ceremony of the 「2026 Science and Technology Startup Competition」 © 장형임 기자 |
The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon) held the 「2026 Science and Technology Startup Competition」 at the ST Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on August 12, naming a total of 14 winning teams — seven each from the prospective-startup track and the startup track.
Now in its fourth year, the competition is a deep-tech-focused contest that aims to discover and nurture teams combining research and development capability with market potential. It targets (prospective) startup teams built on public research achievements held by universities and government-funded research institutes, and it evaluates the startup track — for early-stage companies founded within three years — separately from the prospective-startup track, which is for teams still in the pre-founding stage. By widening the path for technology to move out of the lab and into the market, the competition offers young researchers a practical channel to turn their achievements into businesses.
This year, a total of 279 teams applied from April 15 to May 20 — 196 in the prospective-startup track and 83 in the startup track — the largest number of applications on record. The 30 teams that reached the finals after document and presentation screening (15 per track) delivered investor-relations (IR) pitches consisting of a five-minute presentation and a three-minute question-and-answer session before a panel of investment experts and technology-startup specialists, and 14 of them earned awards.
The grand prize in the prospective-startup track (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award) went to NanoAquaShield (team leader Park Seung-chul). The team presented a fabric-coating spray product and service that applies superhydrophobic nanoparticles without perfluorinated compounds (PFAS) to achieve both IPX7-grade full waterproofing and breathability at the same time. The technology, which addresses the performance and durability limits of existing waterproof materials together, was highly rated for demonstrating its performance through numerous proof-of-concept (PoC) tests. Team leader Park Seung-chul, who belongs to the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, is preparing to launch his venture by verifying customers and the market through the 2026 Public Technology-Based Market-Linked Startup Exploration Support Program (TECSCORE).
The grand prize in the startup track (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award) went to FloatBio (CEO Jung Young-do). The company unveiled BLOOM, the world’s first dual-layer, non-invasive, point-of-care bladder cancer diagnostic platform. As a diagnostic-aid kit that detects early bladder cancer with high accuracy using only urine and no pretreatment — through enzyme biomarkers and dual-layer structural technology — it was praised for improving both accuracy and price competitiveness over existing diagnostic kits. CEO Jung Young-do, who is affiliated with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), is likewise a case of successful entrepreneurship through the TECSCORE support program.
Beyond the two grand-prize teams, the excellence award went to Recensing in the prospective-startup track and to Analog AI in the startup track. Distinguished awards went to ANSERS, Dropinion and BionicSuit in the prospective-startup track, and to SonoCareLab Inc., MotoMind Inc. and Softionix Inc. in the startup track, while encouragement awards went to DyninAI Platform and Aponic in the prospective-startup track, and to Numerial Inc. and Pyrex in the startup track.
The 14 winning teams, including the grand-prize and excellence-award recipients, receive the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Award, the President of the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development Award, and a combined 52 million won in prize money. This is accompanied by a range of follow-up support, such as capacity-building consulting and investment-attraction acceleration. In particular, the seven top teams in the prospective-startup track receive a seed-investment program linked with private accelerators (TIPS operators) as well as field-specific expert mentoring, while the seven top teams in the startup track are connected to the pan-ministerial integrated contests ‘K-Startup of the Year’ and the ‘K-Digital Grand Championship.’
The seven winning teams in the startup track advance to the integrated finals of the 「K-Startup of the Year (formerly Challenge! K-Startup) 2026」, a pan-ministerial integrated competition in which nine ministries collaborate. Last year, six teams that advanced to 「Challenge! K-Startup 2025」 through this competition all won awards, demonstrating the competitiveness of deep-tech startups.
In the second part of the event, a special lecture by a senior founder, overall reviews by the chief judges of each league, an awards ceremony and networking followed. Kim In-chul, CEO of WaterTreeNez and the grand-prize winner of the prospective-startup league at 「Challenge! K-Startup 2024」, spoke as the lecture presenter and drew a warm response from the researchers in attendance by sharing his experience of technology entrepreneurship and market entry.
Kim Sung-soo, Director-General for R&D Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, ‘We hope the research achievements of young researchers at universities and government-funded institutes will lead to deep-tech startups and become a driving force for national growth,’ adding, ‘We will do our utmost to serve as a reliable supporter so that researchers can boldly take on the startup stage without fear of failure.’ For more information, contact the Startup Exploration Leading Center of the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development.
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