This Year’s Government Startup Support Project Worth 1.5179 Trillion KRW... Integrated Announcement Implemented

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 4th that, as a result of investigating the government's startup support projects in 2021, 15 ministries (90 projects) and 17 metropolitan local governments (104 projects) are supporting startup projects worth 1.5179 trillion KRW.

Since 2016, the Ministry has integrated individual startup support project announcements from central ministries and provided guidance through the 'Startup Support Portal' website, with participating institutions and announced projects continuously increasing. Until last year, integrated announcements were conducted only for central government projects, but to improve accessibility for policy demanders and unify information provision channels, metropolitan local government projects were added this year, including 104 projects.

The budget related to startup support has been increasing annually due to the policy importance of job creation and fostering non-face-to-face companies, reaching a record high of 1.5179 trillion KRW this year, an increase of 66.2 billion KRW (4.6%) compared to 1.4517 trillion KRW last year. According to the analysis of startup projects by institution, the central ministries support 90 projects (46.4%) with 1.4368 trillion KRW (94.7%) from 15 ministries, with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the dedicated ministry for startup fostering, accounting for the largest share with 40 projects and 1.233 trillion KRW (81.2%). Next are the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with 11 projects·49.16 billion KRW (3.2%), and the Ministry of Science and ICT with 10 projects·45.77 billion KRW (3.0%). This year, new projects include 8 projects such as the Ministry’s non-face-to-face startup fostering (30 billion KRW), global corporate collaboration program (30 billion KRW), and the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ICT future market optimization collaborative technology development project (2.4 billion KRW).

Metropolitan local governments support 104 projects (53.6%) with 81.1 billion KRW (5.3%) from 17 cities and provinces, with Seoul City having the highest budget share among local governments with 14 projects and 23.7 billion KRW (1.56%). Next are Gyeonggi Province with 26 projects and 20.6 billion KRW (1.36%), and Daejeon City with 10 projects and 7.7 billion KRW (0.5%). In particular, region-specific tailored startup support such as Seoul’s Fintech Lab, Gyeonggi Province’s crowdfunding-linked startup support, and Chungnam’s rural convergence industry product manufacturing company startup fostering are included in various ways.

By support type, the order is startup commercialization (57.6%), technology development (27.7%), facilities and incubation (7.1%), and startup education (5.5%). Among these, the startup commercialization support budget increased by 143 billion KRW from 731.5 billion KRW in 2020 to 874.5 billion KRW, and the budget for startup education also increased, which is expected to strengthen expertise and improve awareness about startups. Additionally, to focus on fostering young entrepreneurs (under 39 years old), 29 projects worth 141.3 billion KRW will be supported by 6 central ministries and 12 cities and provinces.

Detailed information on the integrated announcements can be found on the Startup Support Portal and the Ministry’s website, and inquiries can also be made through the Small and Medium Business Integrated Call Center. Cha Jeong-hoon, head of the Ministry’s Startup Venture Innovation Office, said, "By integrating startup support policies that were previously scattered across central ministries and metropolitan local governments, we expect that the public will have easier access to startup support information," and added, "We plan to provide a service that allows applications and submissions for startup projects from each ministry to be made in one place through the advancement of the Startup Support Portal site."

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