Professors and students join forces for deep tech startups as UST launches entrepreneurship track

A new "professor-student deep tech startup" model — in which graduate students and their faculty advisers team up to commercialize core technologies developed at government-funded research institutes — is now officially underway.

The University of Science and Technology (UST) said Thursday it held the launch ceremony for its "2026 UST Startup Track (Conversion Type)" at the UST dormitory conference hall.

The event brought together the five government research institute school teams selected through a startup track evaluation held in June, five preliminary teams and students interested in entrepreneurship. It focused on sharing the direction of deep tech startups and passing on the practical experience and know-how needed in the startup process.

The defining feature of the UST Startup Track is that degree-program students and their faculty advisers form a single team to commercialize outstanding core technologies from national research institutes.

Students who served as first authors on research conducted at national research institutes and their supervising professors share a deep understanding of the technology and its research context, and pursue commercialization directly. In the startup process, the professor can serve as CEO while the student takes the role of chief technology officer, though the roles can be reversed depending on the team's characteristics and the nature of the technology.

Because the researchers who developed the technology are entering the market themselves, UST said their deep understanding of the research outcomes is expected to improve commercialization prospects.

At the launch ceremony, Kim Cheol-hwan, chairman of the Kite Entrepreneur Foundation and a newly appointed special faculty member in entrepreneurship, delivered a lecture titled "The Reality of Deep Tech Startups."

A veteran venture entrepreneur with experience in numerous technology startups and company acquisitions, Kim shared with students the pitfalls that arise during technology-based startups and the practical know-how needed throughout the commercialization process.

The five teams selected for the UST Startup Track then presented their business plans. Each team introduced its startup idea and commercialization strategy, and reviewed its business model through a question-and-answer session with attendees.

Song Bo-gyeong, CEO of Witten Company and a 2022 graduate of the UST-Korea Institute of Science and Technology School, shared a case study of an integrated product-development startup that links biomedical research — from materials and formulation design through research and development and manufacturing — to global brand commercialization.

Another startup alumnus described building a business in physical AI and industrial automation by independently developing a multi-joint robot gripper and humanoid robot hand, offering firsthand startup insights to the next generation of students.

UST said it will begin follow-up support for participating teams starting from the launch ceremony.

Next month, UST plans to hold an intensive two-night, three-day startup boot camp to strengthen participants' deep tech entrepreneurship mindset and provide hands-on training in business model design and validation. The university will support teams from the initial idea stage through to actual startup formation through expert training, mentoring and startup funding.

UST President Kang Dae-im said the university would spare no effort in providing expert training, mentoring and startup funding "so that many success stories of students and professors launching startups together based on national research institute technologies can emerge." He added that UST would "continue to work to revitalize deep tech startups through UST so that outstanding research technologies can be reborn as new value in the market."