1 Trillion Won 'Green Unicorn' Creation: Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Ministry of Environment Join Forces

Promotion of Mutual Cooperation for Green New Deal Measures such as Fostering 'Green Venture 100' Companies and Smart Eco-factories

On the 26th, Minister Park Young-sun is delivering a greeting at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups - Ministry of Environment business agreement ceremony for fostering green ventures held at the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs) and the Ministry of Environment (Minister Cho Myung-rae) have joined hands to create a 'Green Unicorn' with a corporate value of 1 trillion won. They plan to jointly support the innovative growth of promising ventures and startups in the environmental sector.

On the morning of the 26th, the Ministry of SMEs announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Environment at the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute to efficiently promote the 'Green New Deal' measures through mutual cooperation and to support the establishment of a growth foundation for green SMEs and venture companies. Both ministries have been discovering collaborative tasks to successfully implement the 'Green New Deal' measures, which are being jointly established by the government to foster the green industry sector as a new growth engine for the Korean economy, and to jointly nurture promising ventures and startups in the environmental field. These tasks will be actively promoted following this agreement.

First, the two ministries will jointly nurture 100 'Green Venture' companies. The Ministry of SMEs and the Ministry of Environment will each select 50 companies leading the green industry with eco-friendly technologies, and plan to support up to 3 billion won over three years for technology development and commercialization. Procedures such as announcement, evaluation, and selection of this project will be conducted jointly to ensure effective linkage between the ministries' projects.

The second collaborative task is to establish and support 100 'Smart Ecological Factories' equipped with eco-friendly facilities such as pollution emission reduction by 2022. To support this project, the Ministry of Environment will provide up to 1 billion won for environmental facility improvements to jointly discovered manufacturing companies, and the Ministry of SMEs will support the spread of smart factories within a range of 150 million won.

Additionally, the two ministries agreed to expand investments in green SMEs and venture companies and to cooperate mutually for technology transfer and commercialization in the environmental sector. The Ministry of SMEs plans to newly establish a 'Green New Deal Fund' using the supplementary budget in the second half of the year and focus investments on promising ventures and startups in green industry sectors such as alternative energy and upcycling, together with the Ministry of Environment’s environmental industry fund.

For technology transfer and commercialization, the Ministry of Environment will discover core technologies held by affiliated research institutes, and the Ministry of SMEs will support the transfer and commercialization of discovered technologies to SMEs through the Korea Technology Finance Corporation’s 'Tech Bridge' and other channels. The two ministries plan to discuss specific implementation methods of the agreement tasks, monitor progress, and establish and operate a policy council to continuously discover new collaborative tasks.

At the signing ceremony, Yang Seung-chan, CEO of StarsTech, selected as an 'Agiyunicorn' company by the Ministry of SMEs, and Han Jeong-cheol, CEO of Envionia, designated as an excellent environmental industry company by the Ministry of Environment, also attended. StarsTech, founded in 2018, produces de-icing agents that reduce side effects such as vehicle corrosion and road damage by utilizing crown-of-thorns starfish, which cause significant damage to marine ecosystems. Envionia is a promising green industry material company producing air filters and water treatment filters, uniquely succeeding in developing and mass-producing composite materials through wet processes in Korea, and is a KOSDAQ-listed company whose workforce has doubled over the past four years. Both CEOs agreed that "government support for fostering the green industry must continue to expand to solve climate and environmental issues as well as secure new growth engines."

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs said, "Beyond the collaborative tasks, we hope to create an innovation growth ecosystem for green SMEs and venture companies, such as the Green Startup Town that remodels underdeveloped areas into clusters for green SMEs and ventures, so that green unicorn companies can be born in Korea as well."

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