Expansion of Agricultural, Forestry, Livestock, and Food R&D Consulting... Companies Select Experts to Proceed

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced on the 27th that it will expand research and development (R&D) consulting to increase the commercialization rate in the agriculture, forestry, livestock, and food sectors.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (KOPIA) will promote the "Agri-food R&D Coordinator Project." The annual budget will be increased from 40 million KRW to 200 million KRW. Along with R&D, commercialization and technology certification consulting programs will be introduced.

Support will be provided not only to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) newly selected for R&D projects but also to SMEs currently conducting projects or facing difficulties in commercialization after project completion.

The number of coordinators will be increased to a total of 110, including experts in agriculture, livestock, food, machinery and systems, environmental ecology, convergence, and specialized consultants. The method of matching experts uniformly by KOPIA will be changed to allow companies to select their preferred coordinators.

From the first public recruitment held from the 14th of last month to the 5th of this month, 39 companies were selected. Additional support companies will be recruited mainly among agri-food SMEs and agricultural organizations. Interested companies can inquire with KOPIA and then apply.

Kim Sangkyung, Director of Science and Technology Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "We will spare no effort to provide researcher-centered support to strengthen the competitiveness of companies struggling with R&D project execution and to create a research environment that produces tangible results."

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