BUSAN — A large-scale government startup support program aimed at shifting opportunities away from the greater Seoul area is moving into full gear in Busan. With a sharply larger share of participants to be selected from outside the capital region, the program is expected to open new growth opportunities for Busan's startup ecosystem, where universities, business incubators and investment firms are concentrated.
The Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation said on the 13th that it has been selected as the official hub for Busan's general and technology tracks in the second phase of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 2026 Startup Project for All.
The program will select 10,000 first-round participants nationwide — 8,000 in the general and technology tracks and 2,000 in the local track — then narrow the field to promising founders through stage-by-stage evaluations. About 5,600 of the general and technology track slots, or 70%, will go to applicants from outside the capital region. Roughly 1,800 of the local track slots will also go to non-capital-region applicants. The aim is to redirect the discovery of startup talent and commercialization opportunities, long concentrated in the Seoul area, toward the regions.
In Busan, the focus is on linking startup resources scattered across the region into a single growth framework. The center will work with 11 mentoring institutions, including Pukyong National University, Tongmyong University, Dongseo University, Dong-A University, Pusan National University and Busan Techno Holdings, to turn prospective founders' ideas into business models. It plans to connect those efforts with its own support programs for prospective and early-stage founders, direct investment and TIPS, the government's private investment-led technology startup support program, building a growth ladder that runs from idea discovery through incubation to investment.
For Busan, the arrangement widens the channel for identifying startup talent produced by local universities and nurturing it in the region before it moves to the capital area. If the government's preference for non-capital-region applicants meshes with Busan's university, incubation and investment infrastructure, regional startup support that had remained a collection of individual programs could be linked across a company's growth stages.
First-round participants receive startup activity funds, artificial intelligence solutions and one-on-one mentoring. Funding for building a minimum viable product and for commercialization follows, and final winners receive up to 500 million won in the general and technology tracks and up to 100 million won in the local track.
Applications are being accepted on the Startup Project for All platform until 4 p.m. on the 17th. An official at the Busan center said anyone who wants to develop an idea into an actual business can apply, adding that with a high share of slots reserved for applicants outside the capital region, prospective and early-stage founders in Busan are encouraged to take part.
