The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced on the 8th that it has selected 10 finalist teams for the integrated finals of “Challenge! K-Startup 2025” during the 2025 Science & Technology Startup Competition, held on the 6th at COEX in Seoul.
The competition serves as the final stage of the Researcher League, a program operated by MSIT that focuses on technology startups founded by researchers based on public research outcomes.
Now in its third year, the Researcher League has established itself as one of Korea’s leading competitions for laboratory-based startups, producing award winners such as the Presidential Award and the Prime Minister’s Award in previous years.
This year’s competition attracted 142 teams, significantly higher than last year’s 82 applicants. Following document screening and online evaluations, 20 teams—including 10 pre-startup teams and 10 startup teams—advanced to the final round. The final award winners were determined through IR (Investor Relations) presentations.
Winning teams will receive qualification to advance to the integrated finals of “Challenge! K-Startup 2025”, along with capacity-building consulting from expert advisory groups.
The Grand Prize in the Pre-Startup category was awarded to Team XMUT (CEO Byungchul Lee). The team proposed a disposable ultrasound patch technology that can be used for procedures such as central venous catheterization. The innovation attracted strong interest from the judging panel due to its potential to improve accuracy and safety through image-guided procedures.
Lee Byungchul commented:
“It is meaningful that technology previously confined to government-funded research institutes has gained momentum for commercialization through this award. The competition was extremely competitive, and every finalist deserved recognition.”
The Grand Prize in the Startup category was awarded to VisCure (CEO Seokju Lee). The company presented display adhesives utilizing visible-light curing technology, demonstrating strong technological differentiation through UV-blocking capabilities and tunable adhesion, compared to conventional UV-curing methods.
Seokju Lee, CEO of VisCure, said:
“Manufacturing technology developed through years of effort in a university laboratory has now evolved into a startup. We are grateful that the Science & Technology Startup Competition recognized the value of technology-driven entrepreneurship.”
During the event, Hanul Jung, CEO of AI semiconductor startup Articron and a recipient of the Encouragement Award at Challenge! K-Startup 2024, shared practical experiences about technology commercialization and market entry.
Lee Eun-young, Director General for Research Performance Innovation at MSIT, stated:
“We hope this competition will further expand entrepreneurship based on outstanding research achievements from universities and government-funded institutes. The government will continue to provide comprehensive support to promote the commercialization and private-sector diffusion of public research outcomes.”
