Minister Kwon Chil-seung Visits 'Kodae Makerspace'... Listening to Voices on Manufacturing Startups

Minister Kwon Chil-seung Giving a Greeting
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Kwon Chil-seung, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited Interojo Co., Ltd. in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, a company that introduced the AI SME Manufacturing Platform (KAMP), on June 14, 2021, and gave a greeting.
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Photo by Yonhap News
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[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that Minister Kwon Chil-seung visited the Makerspace (specialized lab) at Korea University in Seoul on the 16th.

A Makerspace is a space equipped with equipment and facilities for manufacturing and creation. It was established to promote manufacturing startups by providing specialized equipment and supporting prototype production and mass production for manufacturing startups.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been actively promoting the establishment of Makerspaces since 2018. Currently, 192 Makerspaces, including 12 specialized labs, are operating nationwide. In the past three years, there have been 1.36 million uses of equipment and facilities, 320,000 supports for prototype production, and 52 startup companies launched through specialized labs.

On this day, Minister Kwon Chil-seung visited the Korea University specialized lab, toured the training room, equipment room, and workspace, and checked the operation of the specialized lab and support status for startup companies. Korea University was selected as a specialized lab in 2018, the first year of Makerspace establishment. Under the slogan "Support unconditionally and stick to help," it opens digital production equipment such as industrial 3D printers and 3D scanners to support manufacturing entrepreneurs.

Startup representatives who received support from the Korea University specialized lab also attended. According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, discussions were held on the needs for Makerspace support for manufacturing startups and the expansion of manufacturing startup support.

Minister Kwon said, "We will significantly expand the number of specialized labs to 30 by 2022," adding, "We will spare no effort to foster Makerspaces as manufacturing startup hubs, including building an online platform so that manufacturing startups can collaborate with optimal manufacturers." He also added, "It is important for universities to connect creative and practical research outcomes to technology startups and to improve academic systems and living conditions to be startup-friendly."

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