The Ministry of Science and ICT is strengthening the third phase of its TeX-Corps programme.

The ministry said on Jan. 29 it completed a final evaluation on Jan. 22 of second-phase laboratory startup innovation groups and market exploration training institutions under the public technology-based market-linked startup exploration support programme, known as TeX-Corps. It said it will 추진 the third phase from 2026 to 2030.

TeX-Corps is a programme designed to help research成果 from universities and government-funded research institutes spread quickly into the market. It provides close support throughout the process, from market exploration training to startup incubation and diffusion of成果.

Laboratory startup exploration teams discovered by the innovation groups conduct interviews with potential customers in and outside South Korea. Based on instructor feedback, they optimise their startup items to meet market demand through pivoting.

The programme, run since 2015, produced strong results. Of 864 startup exploration teams, 435 teams, or 50.3 percent, successfully launched startups. It created 3,910 new jobs. Follow-on investment totalled 713.2 billion won, about 9 times the government budget. SOS Lab and Aimed Bio were listed on KOSDAQ in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

In the recently concluded second phase, the ministry overhauled the training system. It introduced a dedicated track for government-funded research institutes and expanded overseas training regions to include Silicon Valley in the United States. It sought to foster market-demand-driven entrepreneurship through pretotype-based training. As a result, second-phase teams won the top prize at the inter-ministerial startup competition 'Dojeon! K-Startup' for 3 consecutive years.

The ministry said it will significantly expand the third-phase TeX-Corps programme from this year to contribute to achieving national policy tasks. It will increase the number of innovation groups to 14 and build at least 1 innovation group in each of South Korea's 17 cities and provinces by 2030 to establish a nationwide startup exploration support system.

Lee Eun-young (이은영), director general for research成果 innovation at the ministry, said the TeX-Corps programme over the past 11 years has proven that public research成果 can create significant economic and social value in the market. She said the ministry will change South Korea's deep tech startup landscape and 추진 national policy tasks at speed through the strength of 2,600 TeX-Corps alumni and nationwide hub innovation groups.