Incheon National University Songdo Campus

Incheon National University (President: In-jae Lee) announced that it has been selected as the operating institution for the “2026 Sports Industry Startup Support Center” Preliminary and Early-Stage Startup Support Program, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation.

This program, led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, aims to discover innovative preliminary and early-stage startups in the sports industry, promote the growth of promising companies, build a foundation for an innovative startup ecosystem, and create jobs.

Incheon National University has been operating the Sports Industry Startup Support Center since 2017 and, over the past nine years, has supported 122 companies by providing commercialization support, education, and incubation programs to identify and foster startups in the sports industry.

In March, the university will begin the recruitment and selection process to identify prospective entrepreneurs or early-stage startups (within three years of establishment) with promising business ideas in the sports industry. A total of 14 startups will be selected, and the chosen startup teams will receive startup education and incubation support, as well as an average commercialization grant of KRW 45 million.

Jin-bae Hong, Director of the Sports Industry Startup Support Center at Incheon National University, stated, “Through this selection, we have established a foundation for building a step-by-step support system for sports industry startups and fostering sustainable sports industry ventures.” He added, “By nurturing startups that integrate digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) into the sports industry, we aim to generate innovation and growth momentum for Korea.”

Further information is available on the Incheon National University Startup Support Foundation website (https://startup.inu.ac.kr/

) and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation’s SPOBIZ website (spobiz.kspo.or.kr).