Design Factory Korea (DFK) Holds First Successful Startup Weekend

-Co-hosted by DFK and Allianz Life Korea, Themed “Health and Lifestyle Management”

-Hands-on, entrepreneurship program for innovative new ideas

Exciting new initiatives were launched over the summer at Design Factory Korea (DFK). 

On the last weekend of August, a group of 30 college students, young entrepreneurs, designers, developers, healthcare specialists and businessmen gathered at Design Factory Korea (DFK) Studio in Veritas Hall B at Yonsei International Campus for Incheon Startup Weekend.

Jointly hosted by Yonsei University’s Design Factory Korea and Allianz Life Korea, the participants shared and developed ideas and proposed business models. The event was initiated when Allianz Life Korea approached DFK with a proposal to work together in developing innovative and feasible prototypes. Startup Weekend, held under the theme of “Health and Lifestyle Management,” was sponsored by Philips Korea, IBM Korea, Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), and Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP).

The three-day journey of Startup Weekend began on the evening of Friday, August 28^th, with a talk by Joos Louwerier, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Allianz Life Korea, and Mi-Young Hong, cloud software developer at IBM Korea. In the subsequent presentations and discussions, participants brainstormed for ideas in teams under the guidance of ten industry coaches and mentors. Experts from academia and various industrial sectors – including Paul Chang, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Allianz Life Korea; Jung-Suk Hong, software engineer at IBM Korea; Chihmao Hsieh, Chair of Creative Technology Management at Underwood International College, Yonsei University – interacted with each of the teams on a one-on-one basis.

On Sunday, all seven teams presented a prototype they developed, such as insurance recommendation service based on gene analysis and IoT device which analyzes the movement of a body in bed. A panel consisting of five industrial experts selected two winning teams based on 3 criteria: business model, customer evaluation and feasibility of prototype and design. The winning teams were given a 12 million won award by IBM Korea and Philips Korea, and the team with the most outstanding idea was also given an opportunity to participate in an American entrepreneurship conference.

Both hosts and participants were satisfied with Startup Weekend, and Allianz Life Korea has expressed hopes of running similar programs with DFK in the future. In addition to hosting entrepreneurship programs with corporations such as Allianz Life Korea, DFK is also currently in the process of initiating an IoT research project between Yonsei University and LG Electronics, expanding opportunities for industry-academia collaborations.