Startup Support Foundation Hosts Successful 2025 Women in Technology Startup Forum N
- Date2025.11.10
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Ewha Womans University Startup Support Foundation Explores Women’s Leadership and Global Solidarity in the Age of AI
UC Berkeley Professor Gigi Wang Emphasizes “A Strong Desire to Lead and a Growth Mindset Are the Keys to Success”
The Ewha Womans University Startup Support Foundation (Director Kim Sangjun) successfully held the 2025 5th Women in Technology Startup Forum on October 28, under the theme “Woman, AI and Connection (Women’s Leadership and Global Solidarity in the AI Era).” The forum was planned as part of the “Public Technology-based Market-linked Startup Exploration Support Program,” hosted by the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development (KISED), and has been running successfully for five consecutive years, targeting Ewha students and early-stage technology-based entrepreneurs.
Seo Jihee, CEO of Ewha University Holdings (left), and Cho Willyeom, Executive Director of the Office of Industry-Academia Collaboration (center)
Prior to the start of the forum, Seo Jihee, CEO of Ewha University Holdings, delivered congratulatory remarks, stating, “The pool of talented women entrepreneurs is abundant and powerful, yet unequal opportunities still persist,” expressing Ewha’s commitment to serving as a counterbalance within the startup ecosystem. In his welcome address, Cho Willyeom, Executive Director of the Office of Industry-Academia Collaboration, emphasized that “the changes brought by AI are not a crisis but an opportunity, and there are many areas in which women can excel,” encouraging participants to look confidently toward the future.
The forum was organized to share the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the rapidly evolving AI technological environment and to explore practical strategies and partnerships that enable proactive growth. Domestic and international experts and women leaders gathered for in-depth discussions aimed at supporting the new challenges undertaken by early-stage women entrepreneurs.
The first session, a keynote lecture, was delivered by UC Berkeley Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Professor Gigi Wang, who shared insights on “The Mindset for Women’s Startup Success,” followed by a discussion with IINUI CEO Lee Hyunseung on women’s entrepreneurial mindsets in the context of global impact, AI, and leadership expansion.
UC Berkeley Professor Gigi Wang (left)
Based on her extensive experience mentoring entrepreneurs worldwide, Professor Wang identified a “strong desire to become a leader” as the most decisive mindset shared by successful women entrepreneurs. She pointed out that socially imposed perfectionism and risk-averse tendencies often become psychological barriers in entrepreneurial settings. “Women hesitate to apply until they can meet 100 percent of the requirements, while men take on challenges even when they meet only 60 percent,” she said, strongly recommending that women step outside their comfort zones, embrace new challenges, and adopt a growth mindset that treats failure as an opportunity for development. She further emphasized that women entrepreneurs must move beyond traditional learning approaches and cultivate the ability to independently search for answers and make decisions in order to actively participate in the AI field, prevent technological bias, and demonstrate leadership that fuses emotional intelligence (EQ) with AI competency.
Easytask CEO Jeon Hyejin (left), IINUI CEO Lee Hyunseung (center), Attorney Lee Woojin (right)
The second session featured presentations of concrete innovation cases in AI-powered technology entrepreneurship. First, Jeon Hyejin, CEO of Easytask, presented on AI-based HR innovation and her entrepreneurial journey, sharing experiences of applying AI technology to recruitment and HR management. Easytask established a system that evaluates talent fairly based solely on competency data, excluding traditional bias factors such as career breaks or age. Jeon explained that during the early stages of her startup, maximizing work efficiency depended on effectively leveraging surrounding resources and breaking down complex tasks for AI to distribute.
Next, IINUI CEO Lee Hyunseung, who leads a tech-driven community, presented a case study titled “Revisiting Leadership: Influence Expanded Through Connection and Inclusion.” She defined leadership as a balance between strength and warmth, stressing the importance of finding a leadership style best suited to one’s own disposition in an era without clear answers. She emphasized that the depth of genuine connection begins with respecting each other’s autonomy and cultivating empathy and recognition, urging women entrepreneurs to navigate uncertain times through mutual trust and supportive solidarity. Ewha alumna Attorney Lee Woojin of Law Office Lee Woojin (Department of Life Science, Class of 2004; Graduate School of Law, Class of 2016) shared insights on “AI Application Trends in Bio-Healthcare and Global Women’s Startup Cases,” drawing from her career transition from biotechnology researcher to legal professional and her specialized technical expertise. She identified AI drug discovery, digital therapeutics, and femtech as highly promising fields for women entrepreneurs. She explained that women’s empathy and patient-centered insight can be strong differentiators in solving women’s health issues, where male-centered data remains insufficient.
A talk concert followed, with the three presenters discussing “Challenges and Solidarity for Women Entrepreneurs in the AI Era.” The session addressed practical advice for the startup process and future visions. All three women entrepreneurs advised aspiring and early-stage women founders aiming for global market expansion not to “set limits on themselves.” In particular, they urged participants not to build internal barriers due to lack of English skills or overseas experience, but instead to take full advantage of government and institutional programs supporting global expansion.
Celebrating its fifth year, the Ewha Womans University Women in Technology Startup Forum included a mentoring session after the official program to provide more practical support for aspiring women entrepreneurs. Despite the long event duration, passionate early-stage and aspiring women founders remained engaged and actively participated in mentoring, bringing the event to a successful close.
The Ewha Womans University Startup Support Foundation stated that the forum reaffirmed the growing presence of technology-based women entrepreneurs and that it will continue to play a vital role in helping them leverage AI technology to drive innovation and build a foundation for proactive growth in the global market through collaboration and solidarity.
Since 2021, Ewha’s Startup Support Foundation has supported women prospective founders and early-stage lab-based women-led startups through the “Public Technology-based Market-linked Startup Exploration Support Program,” which provides structured opportunities such as customer discovery interviews, prototype development, the establishment of women’s entrepreneurship networks, investment and follow-up support to commercialize public technologies developed in research labs. The foundation also seeks to identify and nurture outstanding women entrepreneurs and establish itself as a leading global women’s startup institution, with the vision of cultivating global startup leaders for a new era.