Local SME Technical Difficulties On-Site 'Technical Doctor' Visits

Full-scale Introduction of the 'Technology Doctor System' Tailored to Regional Key Industries

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] A system where experts called 'Technology Doctors' visit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing technical difficulties and provide one-on-one customized solutions will be introduced. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 9th that starting from May, it will implement the 'Technology Doctor System' to support technology commercialization such as prototype production, technical consulting, and product certification for small manufacturing companies in 14 non-metropolitan regional core industry sectors through the 'Regional Specialized Industry Development Project.'

Until now, the Ministry's support for regional companies has been carried out through regional innovation institutions without prior diagnosis or consulting for demand companies, resulting in relatively low satisfaction among beneficiary companies regarding the final outcomes. In response, the Ministry benchmarked the 'Technology Doctor Project' conducted by Gyeonggi Province from 2009 to 2019, which supported over 8,500 cases of technical problem-solving for 6,670 SMEs and showed high satisfaction, and introduced it into this project.

Currently, regional specialized centers of nationwide Technoparks, local government-funded research institutes, and universities are competing as regional innovation resources, aiming for selection by the end of April. Utilizing these selected innovation resources, from May, systematic support services will be provided to solve the technical difficulties of regional companies with one-on-one customized solutions. The Ministry expects that the high performance generated through this will enhance the competitiveness of regional industries and increase satisfaction with policy support.

Technical Doctor System Procedure

To this end, the 'Technology Doctor System' is designed to strengthen industry-academia-research collaboration such as prior discovery of company difficulties and matching with Technology Doctors to create tangible results in the regional economy. First, a pool of technical experts will be formed by the end of this month and connected with small manufacturing companies. Through the company diagnosis conducted by these experts, support will be provided not only for the relevant items but also linked with regional innovation resources, and follow-up management will be reinforced to promptly resolve the companies' commercialization difficulties.

Yoo Dong-jun, Director of Regional Enterprise Development at the Ministry, stated, "We plan to continuously advance corporate support services to help solve technical difficulties of small manufacturing companies in regional core industries."

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