Announcement of the '1st SME Process and Quality Technology Development Project' for Supporting SME Technology

TIPA, Separate Recruitment for Innovative and On-site R&D... Support of 50 Million to 200 Million KRW per Company

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Acting Minister Kang Sung-cheon) and the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (President Lee Jae-hong, TIPA) announced on the 4th that they will open the '2021 1st Process and Quality Technology Development Project' and recruit participating SMEs from the 15th of this month until the 2nd of next month to support the enhancement of manufacturing competitiveness of SMEs.

The Process and Quality Technology Development Project is divided into two sub-projects: Innovative R&D General Projects and On-site R&D.

The Innovative R&D General Projects support process innovation R&D through collaboration with industry-academia-research institutions for SMEs that have established or plan to establish smart factories. Support will be provided up to 200 million KRW per company for a maximum of 2 years.

On-site R&D supports customized on-site process R&D to improve productivity, such as reducing defect rates and cutting costs, targeting small manufacturing companies with limited financial resources. Support will be provided up to 50 million KRW per company for a maximum of 1 year.

In particular, this year, to reduce the financial burden on SMEs due to COVID-19, the private contribution ratio of the total project cost for participating SMEs has been lowered from the previous 25-35% to 20%, and the cash portion of the private contribution has also been reduced from 50% to 10%, significantly easing the research cost burden.

Additionally, according to the National Research and Development Innovation Act enforced from January 1 this year, administrative burdens on researchers have been greatly improved to create an autonomous and responsible research environment. Required documents and procedures, such as detailed cost statements submitted during project application, have been greatly simplified.

A TIPA official stated, "The Process and Quality Technology Development Project for SMEs has contributed to the growth of manufacturing SMEs by providing practical help in improving manufacturing processes," adding, "Many companies have achieved significant results in employment, sales, and cost reduction after the completion of technology development through manufacturing process innovation."

Applications for the project are open from the 15th of this month until Tuesday, the 2nd of next month. Detailed information can be found through the SME Technology Development Project Integrated Management System* (www.smtech.go.kr).

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