On the 25th, at Kakao Agit in Pangyo, Kim Young-deok, Head of Kakao's AI Dot Center (center), Lee Sung-hye, Director of the KAIST Gifted Education Center (first from left), Kim Jong-won, Director of the GIST Dreaming Child AX Education and Training Center (second from left), Seok Chang-won, Director of the DGIST Convergence Talent Education Institute (second from right), and Baek Chung-ki, Director of the UNIST Supercomputing Center (first from right), signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the cultivation of future AI talent. / Courtesy of Kakao

The Kakao Group is entering into a comprehensive collaboration to discover and nurture teenage unicorn entrepreneurs.

According to Kakao on the 26th, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the cultivation of future AI talent with South Korea’s four major science and technology institutes—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)—at Kakao Agit in Pangyo on the 24th.

At the signing ceremony, Kim Young-deok, Head of Kakao's AI Dot Center, Lee Sung-hye, Director of the KAIST Gifted Education Center, Kim Jong-won, Director of the GIST Dreaming Child AX Education and Training Center, Seok Chang-won, Director of the DGIST Convergence Talent Education Institute, and Baek Chung-ki, Director of the UNIST Supercomputing Center, attended to pledge their institutional cooperation. Center Head Kim Young-deok, appointed last May, is a veteran startup investment and acceleration expert who previously co-founded Gmarket and served as the chief executive of the Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs (D.CAMP) and Lotte Ventures (formerly Lotte Accelerator).

Kakao previously signed an MOU with the four major science institutes last March to foster regional talent. The latest agreement marks the first practical milestone stemming from that partnership, specifically focusing on the early identification and support of promising young science students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The initiative plans to deliver highly effective support by connecting the specialized educational capabilities of each science institute with Kakao's infrastructure and on-site experience programs.

"It is highly meaningful to partner with the four major science and technology institutes that have driven South Korea's scientific advancement, enabling us to provide a robust AI educational environment for gifted regional students," said Kim Young-deok, Head of Kakao's AI Dot Center. He added, "We will continuously strive to discover and cultivate teenage AI entrepreneurs at an early stage."

"Kakao AI Dot" is Kakao's dedicated initiative tasked with fostering regional AI talent and scaling early-stage enterprises. Moving forward, the Kakao Group intends to drive the revitalization of regional AI ecosystems nationwide, anchored by the Kakao AI Dot framework.

                                                                                                            Kim Young-jin