The annual joint startup competitions among promising startups from the major institutes of science and technology (UNIST, KAIST, DGIST, and GIST) will take place in Hotel Hyundai by Lahan, Ulsan from October 27 to 28, 2022.
The event, which celebrates its ninth anniversary this year, aims at rejuvenating the lab-based startup culture and promoting cooperation in innovation ecosystems in order to strength the solidarity of startups and propel competition.
The first day of the competition, which takes place on Thursday, October 27, will feature the ‘One-on-one Investment Networking Day‘ for student startups from each university. It will also feature various IR (Investor Relations) related activities for current and potential investors. The event will gather some of the nation’s leading startup accelerator firms and early-stage venture capital investors, including Kakao Ventures, Bluepoint Partners, Fast Ventures, and IPS Ventures.
2022 X-IST Startups Competition Poster
The final round of the competition will take place on the second day of the event. Each university will select 2 promising startup teams to participate in the X-IST competition final. A total of 8 teams will be selected through preliminaries from each university and compete against each other through a mock investment pitching method. Awards will be given to outstanding teams that have performed well upon careful evaluation of the business feasibility and excellence of participating teams.
The team with the highest final score will be given a prize of 5 million won and an award from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The top two teams will be given Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) Priority Investment worth 100 million won from MIRAE Holdings Ltd., as well as the opportunity to partake in the TIPS (Accelerator Investment-Driven Tech Incubator Program for Startup) program.
Meanwhile, UNIST has been promoting various projects, including the Southeast Region Lab Startup Innovation Center, INNOPOLIS Campus, and Startup Leading University projects, organized by the Ministry of Science and ICT. In addition, UNIST is working tirelessly to ensure that universities and research institutes in neighboring areas of Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam to transfer the results of research from their labs to the marketplace.
