KU is the starting point of the “Campus Town” business which was initiated in June 2016 when Seoul city and Seongbuk-gu set up a cooperative system to primarily form a business scheme. This business mainly supported the infrastructure of the young adults’ establishment by providing education, space to work and equipment. π-Ville 99 is one example of the infrastructural building.2) Campus Town enables young adults who eagerly seek to found a new business. Campus Town also hosted an establishment exhibition, which first started in May 2017 and it is annually held and fifth one was conducted recently.

 

According to the KU Campus Town support center, exhibition participants selected various teams with different areas like Internet of Things (IoT) and biotechnology. Participants tend to pick teams that are suitable for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and are amicable with the residents. Deliberate selection of the business teams led to a worldwide scale success. Camera application developed by team Sobusu ranked first among the Southeastern countries for being the most-downloaded. Moreover, the leader of the team Stealion was nominated for the Asia’s most influential top 30 leader of the age of under 30. This business made it possible to discover young adults’ potential and augment their power to a greater degree.

 

The other goal of the Campus Town is to develop the local community. One of the related projects was a festival named Kkeuleo-Anam held on October 26. According to the KU Campus Town support center, this whole festival consisted of KU student clubs, Dongduk Women University (DWU) and Hansung University (HU) clubs, several residential associations from local merchants and Office. Each of them featured eyeappealing performances and booths filled with exhibitions representing the local culture of Anam. The festival ended successfully and despite the four hours of short period, roughly 7,000 to 8,000 people participated in it. “This festival invigorates the Chamsali street in the weekends, and brings together the residents and university students, even though it is being held for the first time,” said the KU Campus Town support center.

 

As the employment rate is decreasing, students need originality to get a job, whether applying to a company or starting a new company by oneself. Anam Campus Town enables KU students to cultivate their creativity and provides an opportunity to establish profitable and fresh businesses. Since Anam Campus Town went off for only two years, it is still at the early stage. Yet, fruitful results from Anam by achieving both goals— developing the Anam region and the founding of the young adults—make one assume its potential. One hopes to see Campus Town business flourish one day. 

 

1), 2) Correction: π-Ville 99 business is independently held by Korea University (KU) and it does not have correlation with the campus town business.