<기사>Ministry of SMEs and Startups Shares Policies on Overcoming COVID-19 Crisis and Digital Transformation for Small Businesses with OECD

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] On the 30th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups jointly held an online seminar with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the theme of "Strengthening SME Resilience through Digitalization: The Case of Korea."

The opening ceremony of the Korea-Paris online seminar was attended by Kang Sung-chun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ulrik Knusen, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, and Ko Hyung-kwon, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the OECD.

The keynote presentations were delivered by Ahn Nam-woo, Director of International Cooperation at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and Kwon In-sung, Policy Analyst at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development. The discussion panel included Vincenzo Spiezia, Head of Information and Communication at the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Christian M?rkel, Senior Economist at the German WIK Institute, and Kang Jae-won, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Startup & Entrepreneurship Development.

The OECD highlighted Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups policies that supported small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners in conducting economic activities without special lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and adapting to the changed environment of non-face-to-face and online operations.

Examples cited included the introduction of the non-face-to-face service voucher program, establishment of shared video conference rooms, creation of the "Value Buy" online platform for small business owners, online trade exhibitions, and operation of the integrated SME service portal "SME Venture 24."

The seminar also introduced the case of Samsung Electronics, a participant in the "Caring Company" agreement, which cooperated with SMEs through the win-win smart factory construction support project and collaborated in developing diagnostic kits, masks, and low-residual syringes for vaccine administration.

Additionally, attention was drawn to the initiative to build 30,000 smart factories and the optimization and expansion of utilization bases for manufacturing data generated in smart factories through AI-based manufacturing platforms.

Vice Minister Kang emphasized, "We will continue efforts to solve SME problems and bridge the digital divide between generations based on domestic digital infrastructure and innovative technologies." He added, "We will actively cooperate with the OECD and the international community on policies and experiences related to the digital transformation of SMEs and small business owners, as well as the dissemination of smart technologies."

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