KIU will be funded by the government for 7 consecutive years, which will include the of maximum 3.45 billion won.

Encouraging startups and competing against 34 nationwide universities, KIU has been selected as the university which got the highest grade for its brilliant outcome achieved based on its 2016 projects. As a result, the government has decided to allocate the maximum amount of 3.45 billion won for KIU.

The project, which promotes the universities playing a leading role for startups, has its own main purpose to systematically support startups operated by university students and the public. To achieve its goal, this project has selected the superb university which has the exceptional ability to support startups and has great infrastructure. The selected university for this project has been promoted as a base institution for startups.

In 2011, KIU was selected by this project which was to nurture universities leading startups. Furthermore, KIU has played a key role in promoting startups and controlling them, acting just like the military academy since it was the only university selected in the Kyungbuk region in 2013. In addition, it was recognized by the Ministry of Education as being the university that has best promoted startup companies, and KIU received a commendation from the Minister of Education, who is also the vice premier of Social Affairs.

Being recognized and selected as the leading university for startups, KIU has proved its outstanding infrastructure which is related to the supporting system and education for startups.

In order to discover and nurture excellent startups, KIU has provided a variety of startup supporting programs, such as; the KIUM startup clinic, which provides one stop counselling services, the sales exhibition to promote sales and secure the market by making a connection with the major distribution centera, and the ‘Design Plus Supporting Project’, whose aim is to strengthen products’ competitiveness of startups. Enthusiastically leading and supporting the local startup companies, KIU has been the representative base for startups.

Kang Hyun-Koo, the leader of the KIU startup supporting project, stated, ‘The result of this evaluation revealed just how excellent the KIU training system for startups is.’ He added, ‘KIU will have played a leading role until startups make a significant breakthrough for employment instability.’