While the George Washington University’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) has served for 14 years as a hotbed of programming around innovation and supporting GW entrepreneurs and the Mid-Atlantic startup community, it has simultaneously cast its net globally to help a wide variety of nations and universities build their entrepreneurial ecosystems by launching scores of new and impactful enterprises.
Perhaps no program serves as greater evidence of that than the Korean Innovation Center’s (KIC) Tech Frontier Program, which since 2016 the KIC has sent cohorts of graduate and undergraduate researchers from universities and research labs in Korea to D.C. to learn from OIE experts at GW. Former OIE director and associate vice provost for research, innovation and entrepreneurship Jim Chung initiated the partnership.
The South Korean government funds the partnership between KIC and OIE, mainly because it sought to create a similar program to the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program. GW has been a leader in that program since its inception, becoming an I-Corps site in 2016 and then an I-Corps Hub in 2021.
For three weeks every summer, GW instructors have guided cohorts of early-stage Korean teams to develop business models and test their competitiveness in the U.S. market through a customer discovery process. The major idea of the Tech Frontier program is to explore the viability of university technologies from Korea in the U.S. marketplace. This past summer, 41 South Korean teams made their way to the nation’s capital to learn from GW expertise.
“The primary objective set by the [South] Korean government is to foster more entrepreneurship and enhance their understanding of the commercialization process,” said Interim Associate Provost for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Bob Smith, who has been a leading instructor since the program’s inception. “Even if the ideas aren't immediately viable, gaining insights into differences between the US and Korean market is crucial.”
South Korean teams complete an orientation process and review workshops in their country before coming to D.C. to work with GW instructors.
The interviews the teams conduct with potential customers and the analysis they perform on that data make up the core of the class. Each team, all assigned a U.S. mentor group and bilingual intern, strives for 30-50 customer discovery interviews throughout the course.
Program participant Kibaek Park, who was the team lead on a business thesis on a photo documentation tool for construction sites, appreciated the advice he received of taking a more hands-on approach to the interview process.
In fact, one day while jogging around the monuments on the National Mall, Park came across the construction site and noticed a board that introduced the project managers. He came back to that same site asking to meet the project manager, and after several attempts, he was able to interview not just him but 10 other individuals from the construction team to gain valuable insight.
“Before this experience, I was skeptical about walk-in interviews, as I had faced many rejections in the past. However, I learned that relying on past experiences and making assumptions without trying can lead to missed opportunities,” Park said. “I often reflect on this experience, reminding myself not to pre-judge situations but to take action first.”
Participants then put together final presentations on the last day of the course outlining their most important takeaways and discoveries. Program participants appreciated and valued the expertise that the OIE team at GW provided throughout their stay in D.C.
“Bob’s really practical advice was very helpful,” said Jeong-Yeol Han, a principal researcher at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. “I expected him to lack basic knowledge in the field of space optics development that I proposed, but he recognized the importance of the polishing process and advised me as if he knew the field well.”
Han also credited his mentors for strong guidance in conducting customer discovery interviews.
While most international teams don’t visit GW as extensively as teams from South Korea, KICDC is part of a larger mission out of OIE to engage the global community. This international engagement effort, Smith said, is significant enough to rival that of the renowned New Venture Competition. OIE has expanded relationships with 20 different countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Ireland, Georgia and Kazakhstan, among others. Japan is OIE’s second-largest partner, and Smith and Director of Student Entrepreneurship Kate Heath will be making a trip to the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology later this month to work with teams.
“This international engagement helps raise the university’s prestige and contributes to our funding and credibility,” Smith said.” Engaging with researchers from these countries opens doors for deeper relationships and potential collaborations with GW.”
