Korea Opens Second "Everyone's Challenge – Defense" Call to Recruit ~50 Startups

Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups opened the second round of its "Everyone's Challenge – Defense" open-innovation program, recruiting about 50 startups to team with military and defense demand companies, with applications running July 16 to August 4. Each selected project receives up to 100 million won for technology validation and prototyping, with follow-on support of up to 200 million won in startup-growth R&D and up to 600 million won in public-private commercialization funding. The first round in March backed 10 companies; the program is part of Korea's plan to grow 100 defense startups by 2030.