Ministry of SMEs and Startups Selects 10 Major Projects for 'Business-Linked Technology Development Support Program'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 16th that it has selected 10 projects for the 'Business-Linked Technology Development Support Project,' which enables medium and long-term technology development for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and supports the expansion of innovation capabilities.

The Business-Linked Technology Development Support Project is a newly initiated program this year by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to provide continuous and phased support for two projects. Through this project, SMEs can focus steadily on technology development without interruption, according to their long-term technology development (R&D) strategies for their products and services.

Despite being newly introduced this year, 470 SMEs applied, recording a high competition rate of 47 to 1, and 10 projects were selected through a rigorous evaluation process.

Among the various submitted projects, those with excellent technological differentiation and high ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and early commercialization potential were selected: △ Carbon Neutrality (3 projects) △ Materials, Components, and Equipment (4 projects) △ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) field (3 projects).

The project titled 'Development of Coffee Oil Methyl Ether Sulfonate (MES) to Respond to Global Palm Oil Regulations,' which received high scores in this evaluation, aims to extract coffee oil with components similar to palm oil from 10 million tons of coffee grounds annually and to develop an eco-friendly bio surfactant using this oil, actively promoting technology development.

The selected projects will receive an average of four years of technology development period and 950 million KRW in technology development funds. Depending on the medium- to long-term development goals, scope, and the nature of each project phase, differentiated development periods and scales will be supported through various linked projects.

Won Young-jun, Director of Technology Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Business-linked technology development will act as a catalyst for SMEs to expand their medium- to long-term R&D strategies and accumulate super-gap capabilities," adding, "We plan to support SMEs to lead R&D by organically linking phased projects."

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