"It's Okay to Fail!" Why the Youth Entrepreneurship Festival and the Asan YouthPreneur Demo Day Are Drawing Attention
On July 21, the Asan Youth Preneur Demo Day, the largest private-sector entrepreneurship festival for teenagers, will open at COEX in Seoul. Since its launch in 2011, The Asan Nanum Foundation has carried on the legacy of the late Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung and has helped build an educational foundation to foster entrepreneurship in future generations, leading efforts to create an innovation ecosystem in South Korea.
The event was designed to help young people learn challenge-driven thinking and innovation skills by identifying and solving social problems on their own. It breaks the stereotype that "starting a business is only for adults." It also offers a vivid look at teenagers who went out into the world, found problems around them, and built solutions themselves. Here, we take a closer look at the purpose of the festival and the foundation's journey, where failure becomes an asset and limitless potential is proven.
Q1. What is The Asan Nanum Foundation?
The Asan Nanum Foundation is a public-interest foundation established in October 2011 to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the late Asan Chung Ju-yung, the founder of Hyundai. Through efforts such as building an educational foundation for fostering entrepreneurship in future generations, supporting youth startups, and strengthening the capabilities of social innovators, it has spread the values of challenge and innovation across society. In particular, it operates MARU, an entrepreneurship platform that helps startups grow by providing space, networks, and educational support.
Q2. What is Asan YouthPreneur?
It is a startup development program tailored for teenagers, designed to foster entrepreneurship among young people and spread an entrepreneurial culture in educational settings. Students form teams and work on projects that ask, "How can we change the inconveniences around us?" The Demo Day is a festival where middle and high school students who participated in the program during the first semester at about 130 schools and institutions nationwide present their results to the public in a startup-style demo day format.
Q3. How large is the event?
It is the largest event of its kind in South Korea's private-sector entrepreneurship education field. About 3,000 attendees, including students from across the country, officials from education and government agencies, and startups, are expected to gather and share fresh insights on innovation.
Q4. When and where will it be held, and what is this year's theme?
The Demo Day will be held on Tuesday, July 21, in Hall D on the third floor of COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul. This year's theme is "Infinite," inspired by a quote from Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung. It was created to encourage young people not to set limits on themselves, but to discover limitless possibilities and learn valuable lessons even from failure.
Q5. What are the key programs worth watching?
A wide range of programs has been prepared to match the diverse interests of visitors.
Entrepreneur talk: A co-founder of Upstage, an AI startup and former Nvidia employee, will deliver the keynote speech and share lessons on challenge, growth, and failure.
Team project pitching:A total of 10 middle and high school teams that advanced through fierce preliminary rounds will take the stage to present their innovative project results and the challenges they faced.
Failure Museum (recommended):This signature space exhibits the trial and error, setbacks, and frustrations experienced during the project process as works of art. Student curators will personally lead docent tours and proudly share the lessons they learned from failure on the "Infinite Attempts" stage.
Booth exhibition:More than 100 youth teams will introduce their own team project activities and interact with visitors in this lively exhibition space.
Q6. Are there things visitors can enjoy beyond the exhibits?
Yes. There will be plenty of networking opportunities and attractions. Nine innovative startups in the spotlight, including ABCDEdu, Dream-Making School, Deozon Bio, Mingle Lab, Book IP, Stress Solution, Els Labs, Freewillin, and Korea e-Sports Education Federation, along with MARU from The Asan Nanum Foundation, will join the event and hold in-depth networking sessions with visitors. In addition, a stamp tour, game zone, photo zone, food trucks, and other interactive events will run throughout the venue.
Q7. Can the general public attend? I would also like to know how to apply and what benefits are offered.
Anyone interested in entrepreneurship, startups, or future education trends can attend for free. Pre-registration is available on the official website of The Asan Nanum Foundation or Asan Entrepreneurship School, and on-site registration will also be accepted on the day of the event. At the Demo Day awards ceremony, outstanding teams will be selected and prizes worth a total of 16 million won will be awarded, including two grand prize winners receiving the Minister of Education Award.
In one line: The Asan Youth Preneur Demo Day, hosted by The Asan Nanum Foundation, is South Korea's largest educational festival, where visitors can see teenagers' innovative startup ideas and stories of overcoming failure at COEX on July 21.
This content was prepared by MaeKyung Biz Content Planning Team based on official announcements and press releases.
