Ewha Impact Startup Academy 2025 in Partnership with the Fruit of Love Foundation Held N
- Date2026.01.12
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Interdisciplinary Program in Social Economy, Turning Awareness of Social Issues into Entrepreneurship
“Ewha Impact Startup Academy with the Fruit of Love Foundation.”
The Interdisciplinary Program in Social Economy at Ewha Womans University Graduate School (Program Chair: Kang Min-a; Director of the Specialized Project Group: Jang Yi-kwon; Chief Professor of the Specialized Project Group: Kim Min-jung, Adjunct Professor) successfully concluded the “Ewha Impact Startup Academy 2025 in Partnership with the Fruit of Love Foundation” on Thursday, November 27.
The academy was designed to nurture prospective entrepreneurs aiming to solve social problems. Based on awareness of diverse social issues—including the environment, health, older adults, youth, migration, disability, and education—a total of 13 teams comprising 42 undergraduate and graduate students participated. Of these, 37 were students of Ewha Womans University, joined by students from Yonsei University, Hanyang University, Kyung Hee University, Korea Tourism University, and Pukyong National University, thereby expanding an inter-university, collaborative social impact startup ecosystem.
A Two-Track Structure (Seed 0 and Seed 1) to Strengthen Startup Capabilities Step by Step
The “Ewha Impact Startup Academy 2025 in Partnership with the Fruit of Love Foundation” was operated through a dual-track structure: Seed 0 (idea discovery and basic planning) and Seed 1 (business advancement and scaling strategies). Participating teams engaged in a step-by-step learning process covering the entire journey from defining social problems to designing business models and validating impact, through common lectures, pitching workshops, expert mentoring, and field-based feedback.
Youth Ideas Changing Society: Impact Startup Academy 2025
To share the key outcomes of the academy, the Interdisciplinary Program in Social Economy at Ewha Womans University held a pitching competition on November 20 and a demo day on November 27 at Ewha Open Space.
At the pitching competition held on Thursday, November 20, teams participating in the Seed 0 track were evaluated comprehensively on their recognition of social problems, solution strategies, and commercialization potential, and outstanding teams were selected. Through the judging process, the President’s Award of Ewha Womans University was presented to Son Yeon-ju and Kim Hyeong-hui of Team “WITH,” which proposed an AI-based memory storage platform that records and preserves individuals’ memories. The Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency Special Award was given to Team “SUMGIL,” consisting of Lee Si-hyeon, Kang Ha-rin, and Lee Yun-jin, for planning an AI-based order recommendation service for foreign tourists. The Fruit of Love Foundation Special Award was awarded to the team developing “Majung,” a safety band using NFC technology to enable the rapid identification and rescue of missing elderly people with dementia; the award recipients were Lee Ga-in, Park So-yoon, Hwang Je-ma, and Seo Su-bin. Notably, Team “Majung” received another award at the subsequent demo day, drawing attention for the completeness of its business model and its social impact.
At the demo day held on Thursday, November 27, the top three Seed 0 teams from the pitching competition and the Seed 1 teams together presented not only their initial ideas but also their business advancement processes and future scaling strategies. Through the demo day evaluation, the Award from the Ewha Womans University Startup Support Foundation was presented to Kim Su-min and Lim Ye-ji of Team “SeniorVibe,” which developed a global pre-senior healthcare platform that standardizes early recognition and prevention of transitional diseases. The Fruit of Love Foundation Award was given to Jang Shin-jae and Lee Ji-hyeon of Team “Pimpy Virus,” which proposed a solution through a platform suggesting a new culture of companion animal adoption. The MetLife Foundation Social Contribution Award was presented to Team “Majung.”
This startup academy went beyond a simple competition and was operated as a field-oriented, practice-based entrepreneurship education program. Experts in social economy, impact investment, accelerating, and public–private collaboration participated as mentors, providing intensive mentoring to help each team’s idea evolve into a viable model for solving real social problems. The mentor group included practitioners from leading organizations in Korea’s social economy and impact ecosystem, such as MYSC, the Fruit of Love Foundation, Korea Social Investment, Underdogs, JUMP, SparkLabs, and CEO Kang Aena.
Jang Yi-kwon, Director of the Specialized Project Group of the Interdisciplinary Program in Social Economy, stated, “The Ewha Impact Startup Academy aims to go beyond simple idea competition and to cultivate problem-solving entrepreneurs who can structurally understand social issues and design sustainable solutions,” adding, “Through this program, we hope participating students will grow into agents who expand social value in their respective fields.” Kang Min-a, Chair of the Interdisciplinary Program in Social Economy, also remarked, “I hope this academy served as a learning platform that broadened students’ perspectives on global social issues,” and expressed her sincere support for “the challenges and steps of students who seek to move beyond learning toward action in the field.”