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Application deadline: Oct 2 (Fri) 18:00

Innovate with AI, Impact the World · 22nd Korea Management Association Consulting (KMAC) contest

2026 KMAC Management Innovation
Contest Storybook

Read the nine themes as short stories and add your name under the research topic you like

Eligibility University and graduate students in Korea or abroad, including students on leaveTeam Individual or up to 6 membersReport deadline Oct 23 (Fri) 18:00Grand prize KRW 7,000,000 scholarship

Download the guide (PDF, Korean)Apply on the KMAC website Contest Naver Cafe

📖About the contest

Korea Management Association Consulting (KMAC) holds the 22nd Management Innovation Contest for university and graduate students in 2026 under the slogan Innovate with AI, Impact the World. Any university or graduate student in Korea or abroad, including students on leave, may apply as an individual or as a team of up to six, choosing one of the sub-topics under nine theme areas or defining a topic of their own within a theme. Applications are submitted online at the KMAC website by 18:00 on Friday, October 2, 2026, and the deliverables, one report plus one AI usage statement and pledge, are sent by e-mail by 18:00 on Friday, October 23. After a document review and a presentation round, final results are announced on Thursday, November 26; the grand prize team receives a KRW 7,000,000 scholarship and a plaque, followed by two first prizes, five excellence prizes and twelve encouragement prizes.

This page turns the nine theme areas of the official guide into short stories so that you can understand what problem each theme asks you to solve. Before each story you will find the sub-topics rewritten in plain words, and below them the original Korean wording from the guide, which you can use when you decide the title of your report. At the end of each story there is a sign-up list; adding your student ID and name under a theme helps classmates with the same interest find each other and form a team. Signing up here is an internal pre-registration for team building at our university; the official application must still be submitted separately on the KMAC website before the deadline.

🗂️Table of Contents

👥Sign-ups by Group

Find your group by the major in parentheses. Groups are defined by the major other than Business Administration.

Story 1

AI and Digital Management Innovation

A robot assistant changes the mornings of a factory, and then the results must be proven in numbers

Problems to solve

Cases and methods of AI changing work in each industryOriginal: 생성형 AI·AI Agent를 활용한 산업별 DX 고도화 사례 및 적용 방안
Work automation and decision support in small and mid-sized firmsOriginal: 중소·중견 기업의 AI Agent 기반 업무 자동화 및 의사결정 혁신
A model that proves the payoff of AI adoption in money termsOriginal: AI 도입 성과 측정 및 투자 대비 효과(ROI) 검증 모델

The Factory of Gear Village

In the old factory of Gear Village lived an owner who copied orders and inventory ledgers by hand every morning, so the machines could not start until the sun was high. One day a small robot assistant arrived and offered to handle order sorting and inventory forecasts with generative AI and AI agents, and the doubtful owner agreed to try it for one month. A month later the machines ran from early morning, numbers on a screen moved by themselves instead of ledgers, and the owner began to wonder which decisions to leave to the robot and which ones people must keep. To become the hero of this story, you must find how AI adoption changes work in each industry, how it supports decisions in small and mid-sized firms, and how to prove in numbers how much return the investment brought.

Story 2

Government Policy and Public Sector Innovation

A city hall with long lines joins hands with the private sector and opens an AI service desk

Problems to solve

How public institutions and private companies cooperateOriginal: 공공기관의 AI·ESG·디지털 전환 정책 추진을 위한 민간 협력 모델
Cases of citizens and companies taking part in local government policyOriginal: 지자체의 지역 혁신 정책과 AI 기반 민간참여 사례 분석
AI administrative services shared by several institutionsOriginal: 지자체·공공기관과 공동 추진 가능한 AI 행정서비스 혁신 모델

The New Service Desk of Cloud City

In front of Cloud City Hall, citizens lined up from early morning to get a single document, and the mayor had long wondered why the line never got shorter no matter how many desks were added. The mayor joined hands with small local companies to put an AI guide at the desk, and decided to draw up a digital transformation plan together with citizens that also cared for the environment, society and transparent governance. Neighboring cities came to learn that designing administrative services together, instead of separately, cuts costs and improves service, and the line in Cloud City quietly disappeared. To continue this story, you must propose how public institutions should cooperate with the private sector, how citizens take part in local innovation policy, and how to design an administrative service model that several institutions can share.

Story 3

University Management Innovation

A president opens an open research yard in the middle of campus

Problems to solve

An open innovation yard where students, professors and companies experiment togetherOriginal: 대학 내 AI 기반 오픈이노베이션 생태계 구축 사례
Analysis of how a digital campus affects talent developmentOriginal: 디지털·AI 캠퍼스 전환과 인재 양성 효과 분석
Generative AI models that change education, research and administrationOriginal: 생성형 AI를 활용한 교육·연구·행정 혁신 모델

A New Semester at Booktree University

The president of Booktree University had long worried that, although the lecture halls were wide, the gap between what students wanted to learn and what the school taught grew wider every year. The president opened an open research yard in the middle of campus where professors, students and local companies experimented with AI together, and brought generative AI into lectures, research and administration. By the end of the semester, students were finding problems on their own and solving them with companies, overtime in the administration office fell, and the president wanted a way to prove that this change had really developed talent. To write the next chapter, you must show how to build an AI-based open innovation ecosystem inside a university, what effect the digital campus has on talent development, and how education, research and administration should change.

Story 4

HR and Talent Development Innovation

A gardener builds a custom greenhouse for employees who grow at different speeds

Problems to solve

The skills needed in the AI era and how to reskillOriginal: AI 시대의 역량 중심 인재 육성 및 재숙련(reskilling) 방안
An AI collaboration culture led by the younger generationOriginal: Z세대의 참여를 이끄는 AI 협업 조직문화 혁신 전략
A personalized learning and career development platformOriginal: AI 도구를 활용한 맞춤형 학습·경력개발 플랫폼 설계

The Sprout Gardener and the Greenhouse of Learning

The gardener of Sprout Company realized one spring day that giving every employee the same water and the same sunlight no longer worked, because each of them grew at a different speed. With AI tools the gardener looked at each person's strengths and gaps and built a custom greenhouse of learning, and made room for the younger generation to lead a new culture of working together with AI. In the greenhouse, employees with old skills learned new ones and bloomed again, and the sight of people of different generations working side by side with AI spread through the company. To complete this story, you must answer which skills to develop and retrain in the AI era, how to build a collaboration culture led by young employees, and how to design a personalized learning and career platform.

Story 5

CX (Customer Experience) Innovation

A shop owner finds where the smile disappears along the customer journey

Problems to solve

An AI customer experience strategy for the B2B purchase journeyOriginal: B2B 기업의 고객 여정 기반 AI 맞춤형 CX 전략
A conversational AI clerk that understands text, images and voiceOriginal: 멀티모달 AI·대화형 Agent를 활용한 고객경험 혁신 모델
Turning real-time customer insight into service designOriginal: AI 기반 실시간 고객 인사이트 도출 및 서비스 설계

The Secret of the Smiling Shop

The owner of the Smiling Shop at the end of the alley searched the ledgers every night to find out where along the long journey, from opening the door to paying at the counter, the customer's smile disappeared. The owner hired a conversational AI clerk that understood text, images and voice to record each customer's journey, and tried the same method on large deals with business customers. The AI clerk noticed in real time what a customer was looking for before they said it, and the owner used that insight to design new services and made the shop where laughter was heard most often in the whole alley. To reveal the secret, you must present an AI customer experience strategy for the B2B customer journey, an innovation model based on multimodal conversational agents, and a design that turns real-time customer insight into services.

Story 6

Industry Convergence and Open Innovation

A bridge is built between the big castle and the small cabin across the river

Problems to solve

Cases of large companies and startups cooperating through AIOriginal: 대기업-스타트업 간 AI 오픈이노베이션 협력 사례
New business models mixing manufacturing, services and AIOriginal: 제조·서비스·AI 융합 비즈니스 모델 연구
A platform-centered industrial ecosystem open to everyoneOriginal: 플랫폼 기반 산업 생태계 혁신 모델 연구

The Big Castle and the Small Cabin

Across the river stood a big castle with old technology and many people, and on this side stood a small cabin where young inventors lived with sparkling AI ideas, but the two villages hardly knew each other. One spring a bridge was built between them; the castle lent its factory and customers to test the cabin's ideas, and the cabin solved with AI the problems the castle had failed to solve for years. A new way of doing business that mixed manufacturing, services and AI was born on the bridge, and neighboring villages gathered there until a great marketplace open to everyone, a platform, came into being. To continue this story, you must analyze cases of large companies and startups cooperating through AI, study business models that converge manufacturing, services and AI, and propose a platform-centered model for industrial ecosystem innovation.

Story 7

Social Value Based Management Innovation

A social enterprise tries to weigh money and the village's happiness on the same scale

Problems to solve

A strategy for social enterprises to grow sustainably with AIOriginal: 사회적 기업의 AI 활용 기반 지속가능 성장 전략 분석
Cases of turning carbon-cutting activities into measured value with dataOriginal: 탄소중립·친환경 혁신을 위한 AI·데이터 기반 가치 창출 사례
A social value measurement model that weighs ethics and inclusionOriginal: AI 윤리·포용성을 고려한 사회적 가치 측정 모델

The Scale of Green Village

The social enterprise of Green Village did many good things for its neighbors, but it was always anxious because it had no way to put how much money was left and how much better the village had become on the same scale. The young CEO used AI and data to calculate how much value the activities that cut carbon and protected the environment created, and with those numbers persuaded donors and the bank. Yet the CEO also learned that the measure of ethics and inclusion must be placed on the other side of the scale, so that AI never excludes anyone or learns prejudice. To complete the scale, you must present a strategy for sustainable growth of social enterprises with AI, cases of creating value from data in carbon-neutral and eco-friendly innovation, and a social value measurement model that reflects ethics and inclusion.

Story 8

Global Market Entry and Cooperation Strategy

A small company folds a paper boat called a digital platform and sails to distant seas

Problems to solve

How small firms go abroad with digital platformsOriginal: 중소기업의 AI·디지털 플랫폼을 활용한 글로벌 진출 전략
AI businesses built jointly by Korea and Southeast AsiaOriginal: 한국-아세안 협력 기반 AI 공동 비즈니스 모델 연구
A chart for navigating different AI regulations in each countryOriginal: 글로벌 AI 규제 대응을 위한 한국 기업의 전략적 접근

The Voyage of the Paper Boat

A small company in a harbor town made good products but did not know how to meet customers across the sea, so goods piled up in the warehouse while only companies with big ships sailed far away. The company folded a paper boat called AI and a digital platform and set it on the water, and the boat went farther than expected, reaching ports in several Southeast Asian countries and bringing back partners to trade with. But every sea had different rules about AI, the paper boat had to stop at some ports, and the company learned that reading the rules in advance and drawing a navigation chart was as important as making the goods. To continue the voyage, you must present a strategy for small firms to enter overseas markets with AI and digital platforms, a joint AI business model between Korea and ASEAN, and a Korean company's strategic approach to AI regulations around the world.

Story 9

Startups' AI-based Product and Service Innovation

Three friends build a small rocket that digs deep into a single industry

Problems to solve

What makes a single-industry startup different and how it earns moneyOriginal: 멀티모달 AI(텍스트·이미지·음성)를 활용한 버티컬(특정 산업 특화) 스타트업의 차별화 포인트와 수익화 모델
The organization chart and execution tasks of a company run by AI agentsOriginal: AI Agent를 활용한 '자율 운영' 스타트업(마케팅·고객지원·재무 자동화)의 조직 설계 방안과 실행 과제
An open-source LLM re-trained for one specific industryOriginal: 오픈소스 LLM을 파인튜닝하여 특정 산업(제조·의료·법률 등)에 특화된 스타트업 솔루션 모델

The Rocket Workshop

Three friends in the rocket workshop on the hill built a small rocket that dug deep into a single industry using AI that handled text, images and sound, but they could not explain what made it different from other rockets or how it would make money. The friends dreamed of a workshop that ran by itself, leaving marketing, customer support and accounting to AI agents, and for that they had to redraw the organization chart to decide what people and what agents would do. Finally they began an experiment to re-train an open-source large language model in the language of one field such as manufacturing, medicine or law, and to build a rocket engine only for customers in that field. To complete the workshop's story, you must show the differentiation points and revenue model of an industry-specific startup, the organization design and execution tasks of a startup run autonomously by AI agents, and a solution model built by fine-tuning an open-source LLM for a specific industry.

🗓️Schedule and submission

Schedule

Oct 2 (Fri)Application deadline, 18:00
Oct 23 (Fri)Deliverables deadline, 18:00
Nov 9 (Mon)Document review results
Nov 13-14Presentation round for teams that passed the review (Fri-Sat)
Nov 26 (Thu)Final results
Dec 8 (Tue)Award ceremony

Dates may change depending on the organizer

How to apply and what to submit

Application: online at the KMAC website (https://www.kmac.co.kr)
Deliverables: by e-mail to oneshs@kmac.co.kr, file name is the team or individual name
One report, about 20 A4 pages, in Hancom Office (hwp) or MS Word format
One AI (Artificial Intelligence) usage statement and pledge

Judging

Round	Analysis	Logic	Creativity	Feasibility	Presentation
1st	20	20	30	30	-
2nd	20	20	30	20	10

🏆Prizes

Prize	Teams	Award
Grand prize	1	KRW 7,000,000 scholarship and plaque
First prize	2	KRW 5,000,000 scholarship and plaque
Excellence prize	5	KRW 2,000,000 scholarship and plaque
Encouragement prize	12	KRW 500,000 scholarship and plaque

📌Notes and contact

Copyright of submitted work belongs to the participants
Winners allow the organizers to copy, distribute and publish the work for the purposes of the contest
Submitted work must be unpublished; imitation, plagiarism or previously published work leads to cancellation of the award
Participants are responsible for any copyright disputes arising from the use of AI

KMAC Student Contest Office

Phone +82-2-3786-0158
E-mail oneshs@kmac.co.kr
Website https://www.kmac.co.kr
Naver Cafe https://cafe.naver.com/futureconsultant

Source: guide to the 2026 22nd KMAC Management Innovation Contest for university and graduate students. The stories and plain-language summaries are for internal guidance; the official guide and the KMAC website prevail.