YSB graduates and coauthors Soyeon Kim (Business Administration, entering class of 2015) and Minkyung Cho (Business Administration, entering class of 2015) won the Excellent Paper Award presented in November by the Korean Society of Business Venturing.

Their winning paper, "Singapore Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Research: Focusing on Qualitative Research through Regional Transformation of the Isenberg (2010) Framework," was published in May 2020 in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship.

[Minkyung Cho and Soyeon Kim won the Excellent Paper Award of the Korean Society of Business Venturing with a paper that grew out of research begun through YSB’s uGET program.]

Based on their direct observation of Singapore's entrepreneurial ecosystem, they reported in their paper the interaction between elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the relationship between ecosystem participants. In addition, they conducted qualitative research to investigate the status of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Singapore and compared it with Korea’s to detect any implications it might have the Korean entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Their paper is especially meaningful because of its origins in uGET, an ongoing project of YSB. In 2017, Soyeon Kim, who was a master's student at the time and graduate student Minkyung Cho participated in the 14th uGET program and studied the Singapore entrepreneurial ecosystem. During the four-week project, they talked to local startup support groups and student entrepreneurs. Later, at the suggestion of Professor Mooweon Rhee of Management, the advisory professor for uGET, they reviewed the appropriate literature and conducted additional research to transform their uGET report on the Singapore entrepreneurial ecosystem into a research paper.

[Photos of participants in uGET activities]

Soyeon Kim, who is currently enrolled in the Information Systems master's program at YSB, said, "When I was writing my thesis for the first time, I encountered more problems than I anticipated. The process was unfamiliar but nevertheless it was a valuable experience." She took a course in the Business Scholarship Training Seminar that developed and honed her skill in writing papers and conducting research. She also received corrective feedback from many reviewers. "After completing my first paper, I was able to develop the capability to convey knowledge robustly and logically based on theories," she said. "I am grateful to many professors for their help."

She also noted that through the uGET program, she gained practical insight beyond the knowledge acquired from the Internet and books. As she participated in the uGET program, she took the initiative to meet and chat with people from different fields, a beneficial experience that led her to encourage other students to experience a real business environment through the uGET program.

Meanwhile, uGET, initiated in 2008 by YSB to expand students’ global perspective through on-site learning and experience, completed its 16th program in summer 2020.