Yonsei News

Seoul Campustown

The ‘Campustown’ project is a business launched by Seoul Metropolitan City to develop mutual growth of youth, universities, local communities, and create future values for joint university-regional festivals, specialized startup incubation program, and local community through the cooperation between universities and neighborhoods. There are 54 universities in Seoul, which are linked to each neighborhood’s core resources. This is because small complex cities within Seoul City where education, jobs, housing, and culture coexist get formed in university towns.

The ‘Seoul Campustown’ is divided into ‘Comprehensive Campustowns’ and ‘Unit Campustowns.’ The former is a business to enhance the comprehensive vitality of residential, cultural, commercial, and regional cooperation centered on youth entrepreneurship. The latter is a business to promote youth activities based on the characteristics and capabilities of each university. Yonsei University was selected as a new Comprehensive Campustown in 2020 and received 10 billion won of support over four years.

From a Leading Startup University to a Campustown Hub in the Northwest

Starting with the Business Incubator (BI) of the Small and Medium Business Administration in 1998, Yonsei University has established itself as a leading startup university centered on the Yonsei Enterprise Support Foundation. It has been actively engaged in entrepreneurship, startup education, and startup support programs even before startups became popular in the South Korean society. In April 2017, the university was selected for the ‘startup-oriented university’ pilot project by the Ministry of Science and ICT, which supports university labs to encourage technology-based startups. In the same year, the Yonsei Venture, Innovation, and Startup Program (YVIP) was launched with the support of Amorepacific to establish a knowledge platform for entrepreneurship innovation in education, research, networking, and practical fields, expanding the global level of entrepreneurship innovation network. In addition, a startup incubation space called ‘Y-Valley’ was introduced on the first floor of the Yonsei University Library to foster entrepreneurial culture within the university.

Such startup-oriented movement of Yonsei University expanded the scope of its support to local communities near the campus by being selected for the Campustown by Seoul City last year to support startups. The university’s Campustown Center plans to serve as a hub for campus towns in the northwestern Seoul, including Sinchon, Sangsu, Hongdae, Hapjeong Valley, and three northwestern districts (Seodaemun, Mapo and Eunpyeong) through collaboration with neighboring universities and institutions.

Closely Supporting Startups by Operating Various Startup Support Programs

The Yonsei University Campustown Center is operating a startup support program to foster the growth of startups and realize ideas for prospective startups. In addition to the growth of the teams discovered at the startup competitions, the center closely supports various programs in order to maximize synergy through revitalization of startups in the northwestern Seoul.

The ‘Startup Innovation School’ is an education program that strengthens startup competency for prospective founders or startups with innovative startup ideas and passion. The ‘Startup Innovation School,’ which was available for three weeks in July last year, was conducted in parallel with online lectures and offline mentoring through real-time video conference platform ZOOM in response to the COVID-19. The number of training staff was initially 40, but the fact that there were 68 applicants showed the high demand for startups. In September 2020, the ‘Young Entrepreneurship Forum 2020’ was held online. As a platform for sharing the know-hows of eight CEOs and online networking for young people, the forum was co-hosted with Sinchon Parangkore, a core facility for public cultural city regeneration. It was participated by some 100 people including young people interested in starting a business and local residents of Seodaemun-gu (district.)

Moreover, the Campustown Center held the ‘Yonsei-ro Startup Festival 2020’ in October to promote startup companies in collaboration with the Sogang Business Center of Sogang University. As the COVID-19 situation persists, the festival served as a venue to connect between startups and the public, promote startups, and support market development by using media contents. Two corporate and product/service promotional videos and corporate interviews were provided to the 20 teams from Yonsei University and 10 teams from Sogang University, which were selected through application and evaluation in September. The promotional videos of the 30 selected startup companies were played on the outdoor display of Hyundai U-PLEX Department Store in Sinchon and 21 LCD display boards on the underground passage of the Sinchon subway station for a month.

The ‘Mock Crowdfunding (Untact IR),’ co-hosted by Seoul City, Seodaemun-gu, Seongbuk-gu, Seongdong-gu, and Mapo-gu, and co-organized by the Campustown Centers of Yonsei University, Korea University, Hanyang University, and Sogang University, was held to verify capabilities and items of startup teams using mock crowdfunding system and evaluate corporate value. A total of 56 teams from 15 universities applied for the ‘Mock Crowdfunding (Untact IR) Demo Day’ in November. The final ten teams that will advance to the Demo Day was selected through document screening, education, mentoring, and the first mock funding. During this event, ten excellent startup teams from four universities that have won the Demo Day finals presented their products and services, and received mock funding on the online platform. One team for grand prize, two teams for the best award, and three teams for the excellence award were selected by combining the simulated funding amount and the presentation evaluation by three judges. From the Yonsei University Campustown Center, 17 out of 56 teams applied, four teams entered the Demo Day finals, and three teams were awarded at the end (Star-Pickers: 5 million won for the best award, ORNIS: 3 million won for the excellence award, Bunnit: 3 million won for excellence award).

The Yonsei University Campustown Center held the ‘Campustown Business Startup Contest 2020’ last May and recruited 207 teams. Initially, 40 teams were scheduled to be selected, but 60 teams were finally selected and received support as more excellent founders applied than expected. In addition, as of November last year, a total of five teams were selected in the final as excellent startup teams through the final document review (1^st stage) and presentation review (2^nd stage) targeting the 54 teams that are being fostered. The top 20 teams selected in the final document screening were given the opportunity to focus on enhancing and commercializing their item by moving in to the base facility, S-cube (S³.) An additional 15 startup teams were also invited to move in by using the co-founding space.

The Campustown Center has achieved several achievements since the first year of the business in 2020. A total of 54 companies and 222 people received the benefits, achieved sales of about 980 million won, and succeeded in attracting about 665 million won of investment from January to September. Furthermore, it was selected for 75 support projects and secured an additional 3.5 billion won. Besides, 18 patents were applied, 5 patents were registered, and 30 trademarks were applied and registered.

‘S-cube,’ Base Facility for Youth and Local Startups

The Campustown Center established the ‘S-cube (S³),’ a startup base facility for founders in last December (61, Yonsei-ro 2-na-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul). With the support of Seoul City and Seodaemun-gu, the existing welfare facility building was remodeled into an S-cube building. S³ is a compound word of three ‘S’ from the front letter of ‘Sinchon,’ which is taken from the business catchphrase of the Campustown Center, and ‘cube’ in math. S³, where the Campustown Center’s office resides, will serve as a ‘comfortable cradle’ for prospective and early founders and as an ‘incubator’ for regional development.

With the ‘Welcome Home Center’ as its central point, the Campustown Center trains student and ‘salmon’ startup teams using the group’s network, and operates a variety of programs for startups and local revitalization. The Campustown Center selected S³ resident companies by dividing them into ‘salmon startup teams’ and ‘student startup teams.’ A salmon startup team refers to a team who accumulated experience after graduation and returned to university to prepare for a business. It is expected that the synergy between the experienced salmon startup teams and university student startup teams can have a positive impact on the local community.

S-cube, consisting of four floors from the 1^st to the 4^th floor, is comprised of 20 individual startup spaces, joint work spaces, conference rooms, maker spaces, and convenience facilities so that founders can focus on item development, which then leads to planning and generating ideas. There is a kitchenette on the 2^nd floor, and a maker space where you can make prototypes with an iMac and a 3D printer on the 4^th floor. There is an office of the Campustown Center on the 3^rd floor, where residents can often get assistance from residing staff.

Moreover, S-cube is operating 29 startups and regional revitalization programs. In particular, at the startup consultation counter on the 3^rd floor, it is possible receive support from a professor in charge of the Campustown Center for startup aptitude test, business plan review, and professional mentor matching. It is possible to get consultations at any time through pre-registration from 9 am to 6 pm on weekdays.

The Yonsei University Campustown Center will open a second branch of S-cube near Sinchon Station on the Gyeongui Line in July 2021. The two floors of the building will be leased to provide 20 additional spaces to startup teams, whose business is more mature than those in the first branch. Recruitment of tenant companies is scheduled to proceed from April to May, and a maximum of 15 million won for commercialization, individual occupancy space, and common development space will be provided through evaluation. Various support programs will also be provided for the success of startup companies. Along with the expansion of the S³ facility, it is expected strengthen the regional revitalization of the Campustown project.

We met with Professor Hong Gyoo Sohn, who serves both Director of the Yonsei University Campustown Center and Director of Yonsei Enterprise Support Foundation, Vice President Canhyi Hong of DeNeer (a salmon startup team resident at S³), and CEO Soojin Han of SUCON (a student startup team resident at S³), to hear about the achievements and prospects of the Campustown. Hong, one of interviewees, is currently taking a temporary leave of absence since he joined the startup during his master’s in the Department of Applied Statistics at Yonsei University. Han is currently attending a Ph.D. course at the Department of Communication.

“The Campustown project has a significant meaning for being a model for collaboration between universities and local communities. Seoul City, Seodaemun-gu, and Yonsei University’s startup support network will create synergy by working together. Due to the nature of the Campustown Center, the Town is made up of student startup teams and experienced salmon startup teams. So, university students with novel ideas and experienced founders who have returned after accumulating work experience reside together in S³. They are expected to create synergy effect in one space. I hope that many excellent startup teams will continue to enter the Campustown to establish themselves as a successful model for young startups and community development in the future.”

Professor Hong Gyoo Sohn
Director, Yonsei Campustown Center; Director, Yonsei Enterprise Support Foundation

“DeNeer is a salmon startup team that operates ‘moreDEN,’ a platform for sharing clinical knowledge of dentists. Co-founded by members from Yonsei University (CEO Eoneui Song: Dentist, Mechanical Engineering major, entering class of ‘07 / Vice President Canhyi Hong: Applied Statistics major, entering class of ‘13), moreDEN has developed as a community where 31% of dental students nationwide and 43% of dentists under the age of 35 are active within a month after its launch. DeNeer was able to achieve remarkable growth within six months of its founding through the Campustown. We were able to decide the current item through several pivoting in the early part of the business through mentoring and special lectures supported by the Campustown. Then we succeeded in attracting investment from Hana Ventures in January this year. We received an exceptional amount of 300 million won as a seed investment. It was possible because we were able to do the pitching that investors wanted based on various pitching experiences and feedback from the Campustown. Also, we were selected for an R&D project through the Campustown program and subsequently signed an MOU with the Department of Artificial Intelligence at Sejong University.

Canhyi Hong (Applied Statistics, entering class of ‘13)
Vice President of DeNeer, a salmon startup team

“SUCON’s vision is to create ‘a content that is beneficial to people and the world.’ After graduating from the College of Engineering, I went to graduate school to study communications. At first, I was contemplating what I could do as a single-person company, and then selected a full face mask that was timely for the COVID-19 situation as the first startup item. As with most startups, pivoting is ongoing, and one solid goal is to provide services that enable people to live healthier lives. We intend to consistently produce ‘healthy lifestyle’ contents based on various platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and blog. To set up a business, I needed a workspace as much as commercializing my ideas. We moved into S³ after receiving the excellence award at the Startup Lab Contest last year and being selected in the Early Startup Package 2020. It’s so reassuring to have an office space. Apart from that, the Campustown Center consistently provides recommendations about businesses that are suitable for prospective or early startups among the businesses managed by Seoul, which is extremely helpful.”

 Soojin Han (Integrated Master’s and Doctoral Program, Communication, entering class of ’19)
CEO of SUCON, a student startup team