- Selected as the implementing agency for the 'K-Defense Startup Incubation Program'… will nurture 15 companies in the Jeolla and Chungcheong regions
[Herald Economy= Reporter Lee Kwon-hyung] Daejeon’s K-Defense startup incubation program has secured 1.5 billion KRW (about $1,125,000) in national funding and will accelerate through supra-regional R&D collaboration.The city announced on the 27th that it was selected as the implementing agency for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration’s 2026 K-Defense Startup Phase 1 Incubation Project, covering the Jeolla and Chungcheong regions.
Daejeon will lead a consortium centered on Daejeon Technopark, joined by Jeonbuk Technopark, the Innopolis Venture Association, the Daejeon Defense Industry Business Cooperative, and KAIST’s Eulji Research Institute. The project will deploy a total of 1.5 billion KRW (about $1,125,000) in national funds over roughly eight months, through December, to launch the program.
The K-Defense Startup Incubation Program targets early-stage startups and promising small firms with no prior defense experience. It helps them enter the defense sector through staged support—project planning, defense training, preliminary R&D and mentoring—with the aim of transferring strong private-sector technologies into defense and strengthening the defense-industrial innovation base.
Under the project, Daejeon will identify and nurture 15 promising defense startups in the Jeolla and Chungcheong regions, offering tailored, end-to-end support from technology planning through prototype development and validation.
Companies that pass the Phase 1 performance review may compete for mid- and long-term R&D funding in Phase 2 (2027: up to 500 million KRW per company, about $375,000) and Phase 3 (2028: up to 2.1 billion KRW per company, about $1,575,000). That pathway provides concrete opportunities for market entry and scale-up in the defense sector.
The city plans to use the project to build a supra-regional cooperation framework linking Daejeon’s R&D strengths with Jeonbuk’s materials industry, assigning regional roles to manage company discovery and growth support systematically.
Officials also intend to accelerate defense conversion of regionally specialized technologies—robotics, drones and materials—and to strengthen ties with systems integrators to expand the industrial ecosystem in practice.
“This selection is a meaningful recognition of Daejeon’s R&D capabilities and defense-industry foundation,” said Yusejong, director of the Future Strategy Industry Office of Daejeon City. “Based on supra-regional cooperation, we will reinforce full-cycle support from startups’ entry into defense through to their growth, accelerate the creation of advanced defense industries, and advance Daejeon’s goal of becoming a national defense-industry hub.”
