Ministry of SMEs and Startups "Activation of Intellectual Property Financial Support"... Patent Office and Financial Sector Join Hands

Joint Launch of 'IP Venture Special Guarantee Product'
Opening of Kibo Technology Evaluation System

Roles of Excellent Intellectual Property (IP) Technology Commercialization Institutions. Table = Provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 28th that it has signed a business agreement with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, Korea Technology Finance Corporation, and the four major commercial banks to "promote intellectual property (IP) financial support through joint use of the Patent Evaluation System (KPAS)."

This business agreement mainly involves the introduction of a new IP Venture Special Guarantee and the opening of the KPAS technology evaluation system and data to external entities such as banks.

First, to support technology commercialization, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Korea Technology Finance Corporation, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and banks will jointly launch the IP Venture Special Guarantee product. Starting from July 1 this year, financial support services offering preferential guarantee ratios and fees will be provided to SMEs possessing excellent IP. KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, and Hana Bank will participate.

Since the COVID-19 crisis, artificial intelligence (AI) will be actively utilized in company evaluation methods to properly select third-generation innovative companies.

The patent automatic evaluation system KPAS, which calculates patent grades and value amounts using AI, will be fully introduced. With the AI-based technology evaluation system added to the guarantee system, excellent technology companies can be accurately selected, and technology evaluations that previously cost 5 million KRW and took three weeks will now cost 1 million KRW and take one week, enabling rapid and low-cost support.

To further activate loans or investment attraction for excellent technology companies, 300,000 evaluation data and the evaluation system (KIBOT), previously used only internally by Korea Technology Finance Corporation, will be connected with related institutions such as banks and venture capital (VC). To this end, Korea Technology Finance Corporation will form a practical consultative body for sharing technology evaluation information with banks and plans to provide bank-customized technology evaluation information.

Through this agreement, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Korea Technology Finance Corporation plan to establish a smart financial support system that can support excellent technology companies by actively introducing AI into technology evaluation, thereby building a balanced growth ecosystem for IP finance together with the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the financial sector.

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, “To create growth conditions for promising companies, smart technologies such as AI and big data must be incorporated into company evaluation methods,” and added, “Through today’s agreement, we will share the AI-based evaluation system KPAS built by Korea Technology Finance Corporation with the Korean Intellectual Property Office and banks to encourage more active loans and investment attraction for excellent technology companies.”

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