"Similar to Korea's global accelerator 'Next Challenge' and the U.S. 'Mass Challenge'."
- ncf-qwas1406
- Mar 26
- 2 min read
South Korea's accelerator agency "Next Challenge" is evaluated to be similar to Boston's "MassChallenge."
Mass Challenge is a non-profit global accelerator in the United States that operates based on the governance of state governments, large corporations, and private institutions. It operates the Mass Challenge Program, also called the Venture Olympics, in 7 cities in 5 countries around the world, and discovers and supports startups with high growth potential to solve various problems in society through startups. It cooperates with government agencies and has been contributing to society by fostering more than 1,500 startups in 81 countries, creating 95,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The Next Challenge Foundation is a domestic accelerator institution that aims for a Korean mass challenge and pursues publicity. Next Challenge is an ASEAN-specific global accelerator, and is carrying out various projects to build a future start-up city, including fostering startup talents through the strengthening of the artificial intelligence (AI) edutech ecosystem, accelerating domestic and foreign startups through the global company building, and strengthening the network of start-up ecosystem officials.
The Next Challenge serves as an anchor organization for an integrated start-up ecosystem from an △ urban perspective and is building a bridgehead for entering the global market by expanding the base of the start-up ecosystem and fostering digital artificial intelligence (AI) talents △ promoting collaboration and open innovation with Google Play, Intel, etc. △ Signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with start-up support organizations and universities in nine major ASEAN countries.
Professor Ryu Chang-wan, head of Hanyang University's start-up support group, pointed out that there are more than 470 accelerators in Korea, but in reality, only 5% are playing an effective role. At the same time, the Next Challenge, which reinterprets and diagnoses the integrated start-up ecosystem from an urban perspective based on its own philosophy, is similar to the Mass Challenge, which has built its own domain.
"Start-up is an innovation tool that solves future social problems in the digital AI era and will be a force of innovation that leads the future city in all areas of the country, business, individual, and society," said Kim Young-rok, CEO of Next Challenge. "Based on the AI Edutech philosophy of Next Challenge, we will connect the global start-up ecosystem and take the lead in building quality jobs through the growth model of Korea's start-up city."
instargram : nextchallenge_
facebook : 재단법인 넥스트챌린지 - Next Challenge Foundation
ncf_web : www.ncf.or.kr