Chungbuk Supports Technology Development for Companies in the Materials, Parts, and Equipment Sector

[Asia Economy (Chungbuk) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungbuk Province supports strengthening technological competitiveness and promoting localization in the materials, parts, and equipment sector.

On the 13th, the province announced that it will call for technology development support projects in the materials, parts, and equipment sector targeting local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies.

This project is being promoted based on the supplementary budget prepared last September in response to Japan's export regulations.

This year, the province includes all companies engaged in the materials, parts, and equipment industry as defined by the Special Measures Act for strengthening competitiveness in materials, parts, and equipment as eligible participants in the project.

In addition, the projects will be categorized into mid-term, short-term, and small-scale, and the project announcement will be made accordingly, allowing support to be provided according to the companies' technological needs without standardizing the project duration and support scale. In particular, the province plans to call for research and development (R&D) projects targeting small-scale companies with fewer than 10 employees, which have been relatively neglected in various support programs, so that these companies no longer feel excluded.

The project also emphasizes minimizing the burden on companies struggling due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The key point is to reduce the private mandatory matching ratio that companies must bear during project execution by 50% compared to the previous year. Through this, mid-sized companies are expected to reduce their burden by up to 45 million KRW (cash 22.5 million KRW), and SMEs by up to 30 million KRW (cash 15 million KRW).

Before the call for proposals, the province designated the Chungbuk Provincial Knowledge Industry Promotion Agency as the dedicated institution for supporting the materials, parts, and equipment industry and established the project promotion policy after collecting opinions through meetings with related companies and affiliated organizations.

For more detailed information about this project, please refer to the announcement posted on the Chungbuk Province or the Chungbuk Knowledge Industry Promotion Agency websites.

Heo Kyung-jae, Director of the New Growth Industry Bureau of the province, said, “We will faithfully carry out this project to discover excellent technology-holding companies for fostering the materials, parts, and equipment industry in the future, establish a system for continuous proposal of technology demands, and build an expert platform involving industry, academia, research, and government.” He added, “Additionally, we plan to promptly identify companies' R&D demands, promote joint R&D utilizing experts, incubate companies' R&D planning capabilities, and perform roles such as technology exchange meetings and consulting for resolving technical difficulties.”

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