Office of Startup Support Concludes the 2nd Ewha x KAIST C-TECH SPRINT 2026, a Joint Climate Tech Startup Camp N
- Date2026.05.26
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Leading Climate Tech Startup Innovation Connecting Daejeon and Seoul
Thirty Aspiring Entrepreneurs from Ewha and KAIST Gather Under the Support of the Asan Nanum Foundation to Develop Six Climate Tech Business Models
The Office of Startup Support (Director: Sangjun Kim) announced the successful completion of the Ewha x KAIST C-TECH SPRINT 2026, a climate and environmental entrepreneurship innovation program jointly organized by Ewha Womans University and KAIST and sponsored by the Asan Nanum Foundation.
Held as part of the Asan Nanum Foundation’s Asan University Climate Tech Entrepreneurship Culture Expansion Project, C-TECH SPRINT is a collaborative startup camp where talented aspiring entrepreneurs from both universities come together to identify and refine business models in the climate tech sector. Now in its second year, the program brought together 30 aspiring entrepreneurs—15 students from Ewha Womans University and 15 students from KAIST—who demonstrated a strong passion for innovation throughout the program.
The camp began on April 24 and 25 at the KAIST campus in Daejeon. Participants gathered to define climate crisis-related challenges, form teams, and present project themes. Through intensive mentoring sessions led by expert faculty members, students developed their business models by creating customer personas and learning customer interview methodologies. In particular, a team of mentors composed of professors from both Ewha and KAIST provided hands-on coaching and feedback based on design thinking principles, helping participants rapidly transform their ideas into business-ready concepts.
The final stage of the program took place on May 8 at the Ewha campus, featuring the camp’s highlight event: the Final Pitch and Evaluation Session. The six joint teams, formed by students from both universities, presented a diverse range of innovative startup ideas aimed at addressing climate-related challenges, including renewable energy generation forecasting solutions, low-carbon cement platforms, and public health services. The teams competed enthusiastically, showcasing the progress they had made since the camp’s launch in Daejeon.
The event was further enriched by a special lecture from Jeongbin Kim, CEO of SuperBin and a pioneer in the climate entrepreneurship sector. During the Climate Entrepreneur Special Lecture, Kim shared the real-world challenges faced by climate tech startups and the entrepreneurial mindset required to overcome them. His talk provided both inspiration and practical insights for participants preparing for their final presentations.
Sangjun Kim, Director of the Office of Startup Support, stated, “C-TECH SPRINT 2026 served as a platform where students from both institutions generated innovative synergies under the shared goal of responding to climate change, through a journey that connected Daejeon and Seoul. We will continue to provide comprehensive follow-up support so that the diverse and creative ideas discovered through the Final Pitch can successfully take root within the startup ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, the Office of Startup Support plans to offer ongoing scale-up opportunities for promising ideas validated through the camp, including connections to startup incubation programs, additional expert mentoring, and support for prototype development.