Gwangju-Jeonnam Small and Medium Business Administration, MOU for Technology Protection Support with Companies Located in Gwangyang Port

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] The Gwangju-Jeonnam Regional Small and Medium Venture Business Administration (Commissioner Jang Dae-gyo) announced on the 29th that it has signed a business agreement with the Gwangyang Port Hinterland Complex Resident Companies Council and the Foundation for Cooperation between Large, Small and Medium Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries to prevent technology leakage of companies residing in the Gwangyang Port Hinterland Complex.

The Gwangyang Port Hinterland Complex spans an area of 3.88 million square meters and serves as a logistics and manufacturing business model that assembles and processes cargo imported through Gwangyang Port from abroad, adding value before re-exporting.

Recently, by securing competitiveness through the establishment of smart integrated ports and smart factories, it achieved a record-high cargo volume of 700,000 TEU in 2020 despite the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

However, due to the nature of the logistics industry, awareness of technology protection is insufficient, and cases of customer loss and consequent revenue decline caused by trade secret leakage frequently occur.

Accordingly, the council requested the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to support technology protection to strengthen the awareness of technology protection among 39 resident small and medium enterprises and to prevent technology leakage in advance.

Through this agreement, a continuous customized technology protection program will be supported for small and medium enterprises residing in the Gwangyang Port Hinterland Complex.

Given the low awareness of trade secret protection in logistics, warehousing, and transportation industries, the plan is to cultivate technology protection awareness through employee education, diagnose vulnerabilities through on-site visits to each company, establish security regulations, conclude confidentiality agreements, and enhance security capabilities such as asset management.

In cases of damage caused by trade secret leakage, in-depth legal consultation and forensic support will be provided to assist in disputes and litigation.

Commissioner Jang Dae-gyo said, “Protecting technology and business information, which are major assets of companies, is most important,” and added, “Through this MOU, we hope to strengthen the technology protection capabilities of companies residing in the Gwangyang Port Hinterland Complex to prevent damage caused by technology leakage in advance, and to respond promptly to minimize damage if it occurs.”

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