Teens compete with ideas ranging from e-scooter parking to noise between floors

[Financial News] From systems to prevent improperly parked e-scooters to devices that record noise between floors, young people’s startup ideas for solving everyday problems are coming together in one place. A total of 783 startup clubs from across the country entered this year’s Korea Youth Startup Competition, and 50 of them advanced through the preliminary rounds to the final.
The Ministry of Education said on the 28th that it will hold the final and awards ceremony for the 2026 Korea Youth Startup Competition on the 29th at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, together with 16 metropolitan and provincial offices of education and the Korea Youth Entrepreneurship Foundation.
This year’s competition is being held under the theme “In the age of AI’s great leap forward, we dream of launching tomorrow’s unicorn startups!” The number of participating clubs rose by 135, from 648 last year to 783 this year. The clubs that advanced to the final made it through the metropolitan and provincial education offices’ preliminary rounds and the national preliminary round, which had a competition ratio of 15.7 to 1.
Ideas aimed at reducing everyday inconveniences or solving problems in industrial settings will be presented in the final. EMO, a club at Sangdang Middle School in Busan, proposed an AI-based system to prevent improperly parked e-scooters. Picasso, a club at WAY MAKER SCHOOL in Gyeonggi, will present “KNOK,” which records noise between floors, while Syncfield of Korea Digital Media High School will showcase “SYNCREW,” AI-powered real-time interpretation glasses for use in industrial settings. Nabang (NABANG), a club at Busan Mechanical Technical High School, will present an AI app for managing a home for people living alone.
The finalist clubs will display their startup ideas and run interactive booths at the event venue. Professional judges will visit the booths to conduct question-and-answer sessions and on-site evaluations, then combine those scores with the results of the online presentation judging already held to determine the final rankings. A total of 50 clubs will receive awards: one grand prize, seven top excellence awards, 14 excellence awards and 28 encouragement awards.
Startup support will also continue for the winning clubs. Top-awarded clubs will be exempt from the Phase 1 document screening, which corresponds to the idea competition stage of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ 2027 “Everyone’s Startup” project. They will also receive linked support, including initial mentoring and 2 million won in startup activity funds. All clubs that took part in the competition will receive a certificate recognizing their challenge, regardless of whether they won an award.
In addition to the final and awards ceremony, the event venue will host a talk concert where attendees can hear about young entrepreneurs’ experiences, AI and new-technology experience booths, and startup experience programs run by regional startup experience centers. Past participants in the competition will also share their startup experiences and examples with younger participants at the “YEEP Alumni” booth of the startup experience education platform.
Jang Hong-jae, head of the School Policy Office at the Ministry of Education, said, “In step with the era of national entrepreneurship, I hope young people will take on the challenge of starting businesses and learn an entrepreneurial mindset through this competition.” He added, “In this rapidly changing age of artificial intelligence (AI), we will work with relevant ministries and companies to support a range of career and entrepreneurship education programs on the ground so students can plan their careers independently.”

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter