The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it will recruit startups to participate in the 2026 'AroundX (Global Corporate Collaboration) Program' until March 16.
The AroundX program is a global open innovation program where the government and leading global companies collaborate to support the growth and international expansion of domestic startups. Launched in 2019 with one Google Play company, the AroundX program expanded to include a total of 13 global companies last year.
This year, four new companies—OpenAI, Mercedes-Benz Korea, Astellas, and HP—joined the program, bringing the total number of participating global companies to 17. The selection scale has also been expanded, with a total of 403 startups expected to be selected.
Starting this year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will operate the program separately in two tracks: the AC Track and the OI Track. The AC Track utilizes the resources of global companies to provide specialized incubation, while the OI Track supports the discovery and implementation of collaborative projects, such as joint PoCs and R&D. For companies with concrete collaborative projects, follow-up support will be provided through the second-year OI Program. This announcement consists of 18 detailed programs, and companies can apply for one program.
The AC Track is operated with 12 programs, including Google Play collaboration 'Changgu', NVIDIA collaboration 'Enup', Microsoft collaboration 'Majung', Dassault Systèmes collaboration 'Daonda', Ansys Korea collaboration 'ASK', Siemens collaboration 'Mediterranean', AWS collaboration 'Jungle', Oracle collaboration 'Miracle', IBM collaboration 'IBM Quantum', Ansys Korea collaboration 'ASK Space', OpenAI collaboration 'Yeollim', and HP collaboration 'HP Garage 2.0'.
The OI track consists of six programs: Intel collaboration 'Ingenious', Thales collaboration 'Trust my Tech', L'Oréal Korea collaboration 'L'Oréal Big Bang', Air Liquide collaboration 'NEO', Astellas collaboration 'Astellas Program', and Mercedes-Benz Korea collaboration 'Konnectz'.
The selected startups will receive up to 200 million won in commercialization funding and specialized programs. They will also receive growth support programs from participating global companies, including professional services, training, consulting, and global market development.
Minister Han Seong-sook stated that the new participation of leading global companies has expanded opportunities for collaboration between startups, and that she will strengthen the fostering of deep-tech startups through collaboration with global companies.
Detailed announcement details can be found on the K-Startup website, and applications will be accepted online from February 27 to March 16, 4:00 PM. The AroundX Phase 2 program, targeting outstanding graduates from 2023 to 2025, will be announced separately in March.
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.