What Early Startup Package hosts run beyond the grant: open innovation meetups and IR contests

A selected Early Startup Package company gets a grant, and the host organisation (주관기관) around it. The host is where the open innovation programme comes from. This guide shows two 2026 cases from one host office, and what a foreign-led company needs to enter.

What does an Early Startup Package host run beyond the grant?

According to KISED's programme page (2026), the money and the programme are separate. The grant covers prototypes, marketing and IP filing, up to 100 million won, or 150 million won for deep tech. The startup programmes come from the host.

The page says those programmes reflect each host's own speciality and expertise, in market entry, early investment attraction and field validation. It is the Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED), under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), that publishes the page.

For the grant, tracks and tenure rules, read our guide to the Early Startup Package. Here the focus is what a host adds.

How did the Naver Cloud open innovation meetup work?

According to the notice (2026), CNTTech (씨엔티테크), which runs an Early Startup Package operations office, opened a Naver Cloud meetup for companies selected from 2023 to 2026. The notice 2026-023 took applications from 26 August to 11 September 2026.

It planned about 20 teams. A first online meetup with Naver Cloud screened collaboration potential, and about 10 teams moved to a one-to-one on-site meetup. Selected teams then defined a joint task, checked product-market fit and built a deliverable.

The notice insists the partner is Naver Cloud, not Naver. Areas included healthcare, content, AI transformation (AX) and defence.

How does the Rocket Ship IR competition work?

CNTTech also runs the Rocket Ship contest. The round-1 notice 2026-022 covered AI and big data, with applications from 10 to 21 August 2026.

The contest took 40 companies in total, across four themed rounds of 10 each. Each round's selection process picks three standout teams, so the demo day has 12. Companies pitch for 10 minutes and answer questions for 5.

The notice says CNTTech would review direct investment of up to 500 million won in standout teams, with a link to TIPS. The notice confirmed that it prints no fee for entering.

What else does a host run?

For example, CNTTech's operations office also ran a 2026 Bridge to Vietnam trip for 2026 selected companies. Applications ran from 22 June to 8 July 2026.

The programme gave a pre-departure course and local business model consulting. In Ho Chi Minh City it offered investor and buyer IR meetings, an expo visit and a networking dinner, with follow-up meetings.

In practice, each host builds a different mix of extras. So read your own host's notices after you win the grant, not only the national page.

Can a foreign-led company enter?

What do the notices say about nationality?

Neither notice names nationality. However, they set a gate that does the work: your company must be in the package.

Proof is the package agreement certificate. The PDF tells you to issue a selection confirmation from your K-Startup account.

Which documents do you need?

The papers are Korean registration documents. They are the business registration certificate and, for a corporation, a registry extract issued after the notice date.

Documents go by email as separate PDF files. For the wider picture on nationality and the national lines, see where the Korean nationality restriction bites.

When have these programmes opened in past years?

Rocket Ship repeated in 2024 and 2025 with four rounds a year in K-Startup's records, and 2026 follows the same pattern. In 2024 the first call opened on 1 July, and the fourth closed on 31 October.

In 2025 the first call opened on 1 August, and the fourth closed on 14 November.

Dates drift. The round-1 notice planned round 2 for 28 August to 11 September 2026. It ran from 14 September to 2 October.

Round 3 ran from 12 to 23 October.

The round-1 notice planned round 4, an open theme, for 30 October to 13 November 2026. The notice says its dates change with operating conditions, so check K-Startup for the live notice.

To find the extras your host runs, browse the EastStartup programme catalogue.