[1.4.1.] Local start-up assistance 2024

Provide assistance in the local community supporting the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses through relevant education or resources (e.g. mentorship programmes, training workshops, access to university facilities)

1. PNU operates incubator programs that provide Busan local startups with office space, shared equipment, and mentoring while excluding businesses that cause noise or environmental pollution to promote an eco-friendly startup ecosystem. The PNU Smart Bio Startup Incubation Center selects bio-healthcare startups as tenants; the PNU Small and Medium Business Incubation Center offers preferential tenancy to companies owned by persons with disabilities. 

Tenant applications must include plans for social value realization and sustainable growth. PNU refunds space-usage deposits on departure. Representative tenants in 2024 included “K-Watercraft Co., Ltd.,” which received free participation in an IR Demo Day and mentoring on water-electrolysis electrode optimization; other supported startups included eco-material firms Amist and Souldot.

2. PNU operates TechPresso, an online platform that freely shares emerging technologies and research trends linked to the SDGs. In 2024 TechPresso published industry trends in smart farming and digital healthcare and commercialization information such as seawater desalination to help the local community identify sustainable startup opportunities.

3. PNU provides free access to V-SPACE facilities―office space, equipment, and prototyping resources―for anyone interested in entrepreneurship. In 2024 V-SPACE offered free use of facilities including a metal fabrication lab and mini-factory, plus online and offline training.

4. PNU conducts events to promote SDGbased startups. The 2024 Youth Open Innovation Challenge targeted entrepreneurs with ideas on reducing household labor, improving safety at eco-fuel worksites, and eco-friendly technologies; winners received prize money, capacity-building training, and mentoring.