"Overcoming COVID-19 Through SME Collaboration" Korea Small and Medium Business Conference Held (Comprehensive)

Unitechno's Lee Jwayoung and Samwon FA's Hong Wonpyo Awarded Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun: "Consolidating Support Capabilities to Strengthen SMEs' Innovation Capacity"
Minister Park Young-sun: "Establishing a Foundation for Leap into the Digital Economy"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Federation of SMEs held the '2020 Korea Small Business Owners Convention' on the 4th at the Grand Hall of the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul.

The Small Business Owners Convention is an event where small business owners reflect on their achievements, boost their pride, and encourage each other through awards for meritorious small business owners. It was first held in 1990 and marked its 31st anniversary this year. The slogan for this year's convention was set as 'Overcoming COVID-19, Through the Cooperation of Small Businesses' to convey a hopeful message about the future of the Korean economy by overcoming the difficulties of COVID-19 with the resilience of small businesses.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun congratulated the small business community on their achievements, such as the spread of the second venture boom despite difficult domestic and international conditions like the COVID-19 crisis and the US-China trade conflict, saying, "We will continue to consolidate government support capabilities to strengthen the innovation capacity of small businesses, promote win-win cooperation, and expand enthusiasm for startups and ventures."

At the awards ceremony, a total of 91 small businesses received awards, including Lee Jwayoung, CEO of Unitecno, and Hong Wonpyo, CEO of Samwon FA, who were awarded the Gold Tower Industrial Medal. This year's awardees were selected mainly from companies that made significant contributions to national economic development through technology development and export expansion.

Unitecno, a specialized manufacturer of plastic parts for automotive electronics, was recognized for its contribution to the development of the domestic automotive parts industry through continuous technology development, facility investment, and quality improvement, as well as achieving export performance of 90 million dollars, contributing to national economic development.

Samwon FA, a specialized company in industrial automatic control systems, was honored for contributing to enhancing national competitiveness by localizing automation equipment to establish the foundation for factory automation in Korea and entering the transportation information and communication technology (ICT) sector to secure growth engines for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Kim Gi-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "As the COVID-19 situation enters a prolonged phase, economic responses that harmonize with quarantine measures are important," adding, "We will revive the spark of economic recovery through job creation and investment expansion and fulfill the role of small businesses in overcoming COVID-19."

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, expressed gratitude for the efforts of small business owners in job creation and economic revitalization despite the COVID-19 crisis, stating, "We will do our best to digitalize our small businesses by establishing a foundation for small and medium ventures and small merchants to leap into the digital economy, preparing for the post-COVID-19 era through AI and manufacturing data innovation, fostering non-face-to-face small and medium ventures, and promoting the digitalization of small merchants."

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