Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) will take steps to foster startup companies in the regional sports industry.

The JBNU Startup Support Center (Director: Professor Guk Gyeong-su) announced that it has been selected as an operating institution in the call for proposals for the '2026 Sports Industry Startup Support Project (Support Center for Pre-Seed and Early-Stage Startups)', organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation.

Through this selection, JBNU will identify and support prospective entrepreneurs with outstanding startup ideas and early-stage companies less than three years old in the regional sports industry.

Selected companies will receive an average of KRW 45 million in commercialization funding, and, through sports industry support funds from Jeollabuk Special Self-Governing Province, will also be provided with customized startup training and growth stage-specific incubation programs.

JBNU's Startup Support Center was previously selected in 2023 as the only operating institution in the Honam region and carried out a support program worth KRW 2.5 billion over three years, discovering and nurturing 41 sports startup companies.

In particular, it demonstrated the institution's and its dedicated staff's expertise and operational capability by achieving excellent results in the 2025 operating institution performance evaluation.

Accordingly, JBNU will select 13 participating companies in March and launch an AI capability enhancement training program, followed by comprehensive startup support including product attribute analysis, overseas market development, investor linkage, and one-on-one expert counseling.

Professor Guk Gyeong-su, Director of JBNU's Sports Industry Pre-Seed and Early-Stage Startup Support Center, said, 'We will strive to revitalize an innovation ecosystem centered on sports startups and to create local jobs. We will not spare support to strengthen participating companies' AI capabilities.'