BMW Korea Future Foundation seeks university teams for social innovation competition

The BMW Korea Future Foundation announced Thursday that it is accepting applications for the "2026 Second-Half Young Innovator Dream Project," a competition to discover and nurture social contribution ideas from university students, with submissions open through Aug. 11.

The Young Innovator Dream Project is a competition designed to cultivate young talent capable of leading a sustainable future. Launched last year, the program is expanding to two rounds annually — one in each half of the year — starting this year to meet growing demand.

This round covers four themes: future talent development, sustainable communities, environmental protection and traffic safety. Participating teams must submit both a social contribution idea and a proposal for an exhibition booth to present it. Any currently enrolled or on-leave student at a domestic university is eligible, and teams may have up to five members.

The BMW Korea Future Foundation will select 30 teams through a screening process. Selected teams will receive one-on-one expert mentoring and lectures on social contribution and content creation from August through November — about four months — along with financial support for developing their ideas and building their exhibition booths.

The completed projects will be unveiled at a pop-up exhibition space in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, in November. Through on-site and online voting combined with expert judging, a total of 10 teams will be recognized, including one awarded the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy minister's prize and one awarded the BMW Korea Future Foundation chairperson's prize.

Meanwhile, the BMW Korea Future Foundation has been active across a range of social contribution initiatives, including recently hosting the "2026 First-Half Branch School Invitation Day" for elementary school students in the Honam region.

The Branch School Invitation Day is an education program run through the foundation's flagship Mobile Junior Campus initiative. It provides quality science and creative education to students at small schools near hub schools — those with fewer than 40 students enrolled — as well as schools that the foundation's 11.5-ton education truck cannot easily reach.