Expansion of Support for 'Experienced' R&D Personnel Working in SMEs... 50.3% Increase Compared to Previous Year

Source=Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 12th that it is recruiting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the '2020 SME Research Personnel Support Project.'

This research personnel support project is broadly divided into 'recruitment support,' 'dispatch support,' and 'training support.' The research personnel recruitment support project provides 50% of the standard annual salary for three years when SMEs with corporate research institutes (or dedicated R&D departments) hire science and engineering bachelor's, master's, or doctoral researchers.

Depending on the research personnel's experience, the project is divided into support for hiring early-career researchers (up to 2 per company) and support for hiring highly experienced researchers (1 per company).

This year, the plan is to support about 230 highly experienced researchers, a 50.3% increase compared to the previous year, to expand the employment of advanced R&D personnel with technology and expertise in SMEs. Last year, support was provided for hiring 153 researchers. Highly experienced researchers refer to those with research experience of at least 10 years for bachelor's degree holders, 7 years for master's degree holders, and 3 years for doctoral degree holders in companies, public research institutes, or universities.

Additionally, when SMEs with corporate research institutes dispatch research personnel from public research institutes, 50% of the dispatched research personnel's labor costs are supported. This applies within the first three years of dispatch (with a possible 3-year extension if the dispatched personnel are hired as regular employees of the company).

In particular, as a follow-up measure to the government's materials, parts, and equipment competitiveness enhancement policy last year, SMEs in the materials, parts, and equipment sector will be given preferential treatment in the research personnel recruitment support project and the public research institute personnel dispatch support project.

Furthermore, in the recruitment support project, while existing SMEs could only receive support from either the research personnel recruitment or the highly experienced research personnel recruitment projects, materials, parts, and equipment SMEs can receive support from both projects. Also, in the public research institute personnel dispatch support project, the support limit will be preferentially increased from 1 to 2 personnel.

Lastly, the company-linked R&D training support project involves a consortium between graduate schools and SMEs. This project trains field-oriented researchers who carry out projects proposed by companies and connect them to employment at those companies. Approximately 300 million KRW per project per consortium is provided to cover student labor costs and R&D expenses.

The budget for this year's SME research personnel support project is about 34.4 billion KRW. Applications will be accepted starting from the 2nd of next month. Applications can be submitted online through the SME Technology Development Comprehensive Management System website.

Kim Mingyu, Director of Human Resources Development at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Securing excellent research personnel is essential to enhancing SME competitiveness, but SMEs face difficulties in hiring researchers due to economic burdens and challenges in discovering research personnel. To address this, we operate the SME research personnel support project, and following support for over 1,350 SME personnel last year, we expect to exceed 1,400 this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.