KAIST emerges as startup powerhouse, overtakes SNU

A recent survey showed that startups founded by students and faculty at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) exhibited remarkable success compared to their counterparts at Seoul National University (SNU). The survey, conducted by the National Assembly representative Yang Geum-hui from the ruling People Power Party on request from the Maeil Business Newspaper, focused on the five-year survival rates of startups founded in 2018 and underscored that KAIST has been taking the lead in fostering entrepreneurial endeavors.

The survey showed that 110 of 120 startups formed by KAIST students in 2018 were operational as of the end of 2023, their fifth year in business, with a survival rate of 91.7 percent or four times higher than the 23.1 percent survival rate of SNU student startups during the same period.

This was also the case for startups founded in 2019. KAIST startups had a survival rate of 93.5 percent while the rate for their SNU counterparts was 23.1 percent.

Startups initiated by KAIST faculty members also had an impeccable track record, boasting a 100 percent survival rate since 2018. This success has been attributed to the research university’s stringent criteria for startup support, which encourages students and faculty to build tech startups that rely on intellectual properties and patents.

Lee Jung-hee, a professor of economics at Chung-Ang University, explained the disparities in survival rates between the two leading universities. Lee emphasized challenges faced by idea-based startups in attracting investment, citing their lack of creativity and competitiveness, adding that tech-backed startups are more likely to survive as sustained investment is pivotal to their success.