Konkuk University and Singapore Management University students team up for two-day ideathon
About 50 students from Konkuk University and Singapore Management University formed eight cross-border teams on July 29 and 30 to tackle a corporate procurement problem posed by a partner company.
Konkuk University’s student-run startup accelerator KUVC and the Start-up Society of Singapore Management University jointly held the 2026 KU-SMU Joint Ideathon on July 29 and 30 at Konkuk University’s Seoul campus, according to a press release from the university.
About 50 students took part, including 35 from Konkuk University and 18 from Singapore Management University, forming eight teams that mixed nationalities and majors. The program ran for two days without overnight accommodation, using the campus makerspace and X-Space, and took participants through the full cycle from idea generation to business-model design and final presentations.
The partner company Brand Boost set the challenge — using data and AI to cut waste in corporate MRO purchasing of office and maintenance supplies — and also served as judge, the university said. Teams presented approaches including demand-forecasting models and AI-based automated quotation and matching services.
The event was supported by the Startup Support Center together with the International Exchange and Cooperation Team, the Innovation Project Group and the Immersive Media Innovation Convergence University Project Group. KUVC operates as a student-led organization in which students themselves plan and run entrepreneurship education programs, and sits under the university’s Startup Support Headquarters.
Konkuk University said it ranked first nationwide for the number of student founders and student-founded companies in the 2026 higher education information disclosure, repeating its 2025 result. The university is headed by President Won Jong-pil, with Bae Sung-jun as director of the Startup Support Headquarters and Noh Min as KUVC student president, and said it plans to expand support for the student accelerator and for a student-led startup ecosystem.