Ministry of Science and ICT Supports COVID-19 Affected Companies... Extension of Technology Fee Payment Period

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT has decided to extend the payment period for technology fees by up to 2 years to help companies affected by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 1st, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it will implement the "Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Research and Development (R&D) Support Plan" with these details.

First, the Ministry of Science and ICT will extend the payment period for government technology fees by up to 2 years upon the company's request. To establish grounds for exempting technology fees, it will also push for the revision of the "Regulations on the Collection, Use, and Management of Technology Fees for Information and Communication and Broadcasting R&D" by the end of this month. For small and medium-sized enterprises, the threshold for the sensitive burden rate that must be borne when participating in ICT R&D projects will be relaxed from the current "25% or more" to "20% or more."

Additionally, to ensure timely support of technology development funds for companies affected by COVID-19, the loan review period upon application for loan funds will be shortened from 6 weeks to 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that the schedule for the selection evaluation of new ICT R&D projects has been postponed to March 9 through the first week of April. The new R&D projects total 156 projects, amounting to 180 billion KRW.

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