Jungjingong, Recruitment of First Round Participants for 2021 Export Voucher Project

Online Application and Submission on the Export Voucher Website Until the 15th

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) and the Small and Medium Business Corporation (Chairman Kim Hak-do, hereinafter referred to as SBC) announced on the 7th that they are recruiting the first round of participants for the 2021 Export Voucher Program until the 15th.

The Export Voucher Program, promoted by the Ministry and SBC since 2017, is a representative overseas expansion support project that provides a package of marketing services necessary for the entire export process from export preparation to entry into overseas markets. Selected companies receive export vouchers ranging from 30 million KRW to a maximum of 100 million KRW depending on the previous year's export scale, and can freely choose desired services and executing agencies from a menu of 12 types of services.

For the first recruitment, a budget of 73.3 billion KRW, about 70% of the total 106.4 billion KRW budget for the 2021 Export Voucher Program, has been allocated. A total of 2,150 companies nationwide will be selected and full support will begin from April this year. The Export Voucher Program is open to all SMEs under the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises and is divided into 'Growth Voucher' supporting export growth stages and 'Innovation Voucher' strategically supporting innovation growth entities.

The Innovation Voucher targets companies leading innovation growth such as ▲Brand K selected companies ▲companies located in Regulatory Free Zones ▲companies selected for the Smart Factory dissemination project. Starting this year, a new track for new industries and K-Bio has been established within the Innovation Voucher to foster future new growth engines such as system semiconductors, future cars, and biohealth. Last year, Innovation Voucher target companies received support ranging from 30 million KRW to 80 million KRW depending on export scale. However, from this year, to expand support, companies will be supported up to a maximum of 100 million KRW regardless of export performance. The startup track will be supported at the same scale as last year.

Applications for participation can be submitted online through the Export Support Infrastructure Utilization Project website until the 15th, and detailed inquiries can be made to the Export Voucher Support Center. Lee Sung-hee, Head of the Global Growth Division at SBC, said, "We will strive to minimize the damage to export companies caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic," adding, "We will expand demand-tailored services and provide systematic and prompt support to offer practical help to companies wishing to expand overseas."

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