Startup Weekend Busan
What is #SWBusan
Startup Weekend is a three-day program where aspiring entrepreneurs can experience startup life. In hundreds of cities around the world. Together with Busan Big Data Innovation Center, we are now bringing the magic to Busan.
A Startup Weekend (also known as Startupweekend or SW) is a 54-hour entrepreneurship educational competitive event, in which groups of participants form teams around ideas the Friday evening, and work during the weekend to develop a working prototype, demo, and VC presentation by Sunday evening.
Founded in 2007 in Boulder, Colorado, the event has been running globally in over 160 countries, under the leadership and curation of Techstars, an acclaimed global VC and accelerator from Colorado, USA.
The program has been running in Korea (Seoul, Busan, Incheon) since 2017.
Busan Startup Weekend Big Data for good will be taking place from July 29th (Friday) evening until July 31st (Sunday) afternoon, in the newly opened Busan Big Data Innovation Center, in CENTAP (45 Centumdong-ro, U-dong, Haeundae-gu, Busan).
Facilitated both in Korean and English by South Ventures, Busan-based VC and accelerator Hyunjung Kim, the event will offer a free-of-charge creative space for 50 global participants to create sustainable solutions for the city of Busan, based on the city’s big data resources.
SW invites anyone, of all ages, interested in startups, sustainability and using technology to solve urban challenges: developers, designers, markets, growth hackers, and strategists.
The organizers will support participants not only with educational and mentorship resources but also with an open coworking space and nourishment all throughout the event.
Moreover, participants coming from outside Busan are offered an opportunity to apply for a stipend program that will cover their transportation and accommodation throughout the event.
On Friday evening the event will kick off with a surprise guest speaker, a renowned personality on the Busan and Korean startup scene. Once the official opening is over, Hyunjung will take everyone through an interactive ice-breaking game, to put the participants at ease and prepare for the next part of the event.
This is idea pitching, where those participants who have an idea on how to use public big data for good, will have 60 seconds to pitch it to other participants. Once the pitching is over, everyone will vote on 3 ideas that appealed to them the most. The10 ideas with the most votes will be allowed to form teams.
Each team should have about 5 members, representing diverse roles: developers, designers, and marketers/planners. The rest of the evening will be spent on team building and role division.
Saturday morning will begin with a ‘Business Model Canvas’ workshop led by a seasoned entrepreneur, Chris Georgiev of Imagga, who will explain the ins-and-outs of this essential startup tool.
The second part of the day will be spent on team mentoring, conducted by Seungwoo Hong (Code States), Heeju Jo (Kakao Games), Chulhoon Kim (Startup Hub), Dokyum Kim (MegaCity Startups), and Jihong Kim (Design Spectrum).
On Sunday the participants will have a chance to listen to Dokyum Kim share marketing tips in the ‘Marketing Thinkology’ workshop. This will be followed by a pitching clinic, where the teams will have a chance to get feedback and consult about their presentations. The 5 minute pitches will take place in the afternoon and will be open to the public.
The 10 teams will be evaluated by professor Jimin Lee (UNIST), Minsoo Kim (Asia
Development Bank) and Jeongho Jeon (JJ&Companies). The top 3 winning teams will not only receive cash prizes from the sponsors and partners but also the winning team will have the opportunity to continue their entrepreneurial journey in Busan Big Data Innovation Center’s bootcamp program.
“Startup Weekend is an amazing opportunity not only to verify your startup idea,” says Hyunjung Kim, the event’s facilitator, “but also a great opportunity to meet new amazing people and connect with Busan’s local startup community. I highly encourage you to Join revolutionaries, game-changers, pioneers and innovators from across Korea on a journey of exploration into big data for good. Together, let us ideate, build life-changing innovations, and push boundaries in big data as we redefine Busan’s future together, one idea at
a time.”
