Ministry of SMEs designates 200 'Global Strong SMEs'... Customized support for 4 years

Focused Support from Ministry of SMEs, Local Governments, Private Sector, and Financial Institutions to Foster Global Leading Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Promising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as LabGenomics Co., Ltd., CoGen Biotech, Classys, and Seowoo Technology Co., Ltd. have been designated as 'Global Small Giants.' On the 29th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it had designated 200 promising SMEs leading the global market as 'Global Small Giants' for 2021.

The Global Small Giants project is a program to discover export SMEs with innovation and growth potential and nurture them as export-leading companies and regionally driven representative companies. It is a project promoted through cooperation among the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, local governments, and regional related organizations.

Despite difficult domestic and international conditions such as COVID-19, 456 companies applied for this year's Global Small Giants recruitment. After on-site evaluations and presentation evaluations, 200 companies were finally selected. SMEs with sales of 10 billion to 100 billion KRW or exports of over 5 million USD in the previous year, and innovative companies such as ventures, Inno-Biz, and Main-Biz with sales of 5 billion to 100 billion KRW or exports of over 1 million USD are eligible to apply.

The newly designated companies have an average sales revenue of 27 billion KRW and an average direct export amount of 7.13 million USD, with direct exports accounting for 31% of sales, indicating high global growth potential. Among them, 55% (109 companies) are located outside the metropolitan area. Since the Global Small Giants project started in 2011, a total of 1,643 companies have been designated, including the 200 selected this year.

LabGenomics Co., Ltd. is a COVID-19 diagnostic kit developer that has shortened the diagnostic time from about 2 hours to 35 minutes by developing a rapid gene amplification (RT-PCR) diagnostic kit, which is exported to the United States, Kuwait, and other countries.

CoGen Biotech is the first domestic company to obtain 'Emergency Use Authorization' for a COVID-19 diagnostic kit. It also developed the first diagnostic kit in Korea that can simultaneously diagnose COVID-19 and influenza and was selected as a Brand-K company, demonstrating excellent global competitiveness.

Classys is a specialized medical aesthetic device company exporting face-lifting products using high-intensity focused ultrasound to over 60 countries. It ranks second in global sales and has been selected as a world-class product by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

BioNia Co., Ltd., established as Korea's first bio venture, is the only company in the world with total solution development capabilities, providing everything from raw materials needed for COVID-19 diagnostic testing to diagnostic equipment, extraction reagents, and diagnostic kits. It was also selected as a Global Small Giant this year, along with many excellent companies leading the development of the K-bio industry.

Additionally, Seowoo Technology Co., Ltd., which developed the world's first semiconductor strip dedicated grinder, and Intek Plus Co., Ltd., a specialized inspection equipment company with core vision inspection technologies for semiconductors, displays, and automobiles, were designated as companies with outstanding technological capabilities to capture global markets in key industries.

Companies designated as Global Small Giants will receive customized package support for overseas marketing over the next four years through cooperation among the central government, local governments, regional innovation institutions, and financial guarantee institutions. This includes preferential participation in research and development (R&D) (Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy), autonomous programs by local governments, and financial and guarantee support from financial institutions.

Kang Ki-sung, Director of the Global Growth Policy Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We will provide full support so that the designated companies can grow and leap forward as 'Global Hidden Champions' leading the world market." For more detailed information about the Global Small Giants nurturing project, please visit the Small and Medium Business Export Support Center website.

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