BMW Korea Future Foundation wraps up first-half 'Young Innovator Dream Project'

The BMW Korea Future Foundation concluded the first-half edition of its Young Innovator Dream Project — a social-contribution idea competition for university students — on Monday.

The Young Innovator Dream Project, first held last year, will run twice in 2026, with one round each in the first and second halves of the year.

This year's first-half competition centered on four themes: nurturing future talent, building sustainable communities, protecting the environment and promoting road safety. A total of 616 applicants across 189 teams entered, and the foundation selected 30 teams through a rigorous screening process.

The selected teams underwent an 11-week professional mentoring program to develop and visualize their ideas, ultimately submitting their work as short videos. A midpoint sharing session was held alongside a special lecture by Lee Dong-won, an SBS producer. Finalists then presented "impact pitching videos" showcasing their social-contribution solutions.

The BMW Korea Future Foundation unveiled the final submissions through a pop-up exhibition titled "THE FUTURE PREMIERE" at Stage X Seongsu Chabot in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, from Friday through Sunday. The exhibition framed each impact pitching video as an unreleased "trailer from the future," with visitors playing the role of critics invited to a preview screening and voting for the ideas they found most promising. The pop-up drew a total of 1,316 visitors.

Voting took place simultaneously online and in person. The online vote ran on the BMW Korea Future Foundation's website from June 24 through Sunday, drawing a total of 6,612 participants.

At the awards ceremony held Monday, 10 teams were recognized in total — one received the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy minister's award, one received the BMW Korea Future Foundation chairman's award, three received excellence awards and five received encouragement awards.

Meanwhile, the BMW Korea Future Foundation has continued its broader social-contribution activities, recently hosting a first-half 2026 "branch school invitation day" for elementary school students in the Honam region. The program operates through the foundation's flagship Mobile Junior Campus initiative.