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From left, Lee Sung-hye, head of KAIST's Center for Gifted Education; Kim Jong-won, head of GIST's Dreaming Child AX Education and Training Center; Kim Young-deok, head of Kakao's AI Dot Center; Seok Chang-won, dean of DGIST's Convergence Education Institute; and Baek Chung-gi, head of UNIST's Supercomputing Center, pose for a photo at the signing ceremony held on the 25th. Photo courtesy of Kakao - Seoul Economic Daily Technology News from South Korea](https://wimg.sedaily.com/news/cms/2026/06/26/news-p.v1.20260626.89c028d8501041479c7ac7da128a2bfa_P1.jpg "Kakao Partners With Four Science Institutes to Nurture Young Founders")
From left, Lee Sung-hye, head of KAIST’s Center for Gifted Education; Kim Jong-won, head of GIST’s Dreaming Child AX Education and Training Center; Kim Young-deok, head of Kakao’s AI Dot Center; Seok Chang-won, dean of DGIST’s Convergence Education Institute; and Baek Chung-gi, head of UNIST’s Supercomputing Center, pose for a photograph on the signing ceremony held on the twenty fifth. Photo courtesy of Kakao
Kakao (035720.KS) is teaming up with Korea’s 4 main science and expertise institutes to uncover younger unicorn founders.
Kakao Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for “fostering future AI talent” with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), the corporate mentioned Wednesday. The signing occurred yesterday at Kakao’s Pangyo Agit in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
The ceremony was attended by Kim Young-deok, head of Kakao’s AI Dot Center; Lee Sung-hye, head of the KAIST Center for Gifted Education; Kim Jong-won, head of the GIST Dreaming Child AX Education and Training Center; Seok Chang-won, head of the DGIST Convergence Talent Education Institute; and Baek Chung-ki, head of the UNIST Supercomputing Center. Kim was newly appointed final month.
In March this yr, Kakao established “Kakao Dot,” a corporation for fostering AI expertise and firms along with the 4 science and expertise institutes. For this objective, Kakao newly appointed Kim Young-deok as middle head final month. Kim is an skilled in startup funding and assist, having based Gmarket and served as CEO of D.Camp, run by the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs, and at Lotte Ventures (previously Lotte Accelerator).
Kakao and the 4 science and expertise institutes plan to establish and assist promising younger scientists on the elementary, center, and highschool ranges at an early stage. The plan is to present efficient assist by linking every institute’s specialised instructional capabilities with Kakao’s infrastructure and area expertise packages.
“It is meaningful to be able to provide an AI education environment for regional gifted students together with the four science and technology institutes that have nurtured Korea’s science and technology talent,” Kim Young-deok mentioned. “We will work to discover and nurture teenage AI founders at an early stage.”
Meanwhile, Kakao Group plans to pursue complete revitalization of regional AI ecosystems centered on “Kakao AI Dot.” The firm plans to assist promote AI startups not solely amongst regional youth but additionally amongst regional college college students and researchers, and to set up an AX-based startup mannequin that addresses challenges in region-specific industries.