"Next Government's SME Policy Keywords: 'Innovation Transition, Growth Promotion, Infrastructure Development'"

2021 SME Leaders Forum Policy Debate
Proposing Next Government Policies for Growth of 6.88 Million SMEs

On the 16th, at the Hilton Hotel in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk, Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, delivered the opening address at the '2021 SME Leaders Forum.' Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Korea Federation of SMEs (Chairman Kim Kiwon) announced on the 17th that it held a policy forum titled "Policy Directions and Solutions for SMEs in the With-Corona Era" at the Gyeongju Hilton Hotel.

About 100 representatives of SMEs and small business owners from various industries attended the forum. Starting with a keynote presentation by Chu Moon-gap, Head of the Economic Policy Department at the Korea Federation of SMEs, the session was chaired by Oh Dong-yoon, President of the Korea Institute for Small and Medium Venture Business. The discussion on the next government’s SME policies included △ Professor Kim Yong-jin of Sogang University △ Jo Bong-hyun, Vice President of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea △ Kim Nam-geun, Chair of the Special Reform Legislation Committee of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society △ and Han Byung-jun, Chairman of the Korea Information Industry Cooperative.

In his keynote presentation titled "Changes in the SME Policy Environment and Policy Tasks for the Next Government," Chu Moon-gap, Head of the Economic Policy Department at the Korea Federation of SMEs, explained, “The reason why South Korea’s GDP per capita increased more than 400 times from $82 in 1961 to $31,637 in 2020, and why it grew into the world’s 10th largest economy, was because of SMEs, which are the foundation of the national economy and the source of job creation.” He added, “However, after COVID-19, SMEs face a crisis and an urgent need for change due to rapid environmental changes such as deepening polarization, expansion of non-face-to-face business, strengthening of carbon neutrality, and a declining working population.”

He continued, “The next government must reorganize the economic structure based on the principles of fairness and coexistence to create an environment where SMEs can take on challenges with entrepreneurial spirit.” He emphasized, “In particular, it is necessary to correct the economic structure skewed toward a few large corporations to resolve the polarization between large and small-medium enterprises, and to implement groundbreaking support policies such as △ establishing a dedicated electricity tariff system for SMEs △ introducing a delivery price linkage system △ expanding support for carbon reduction facilities and technologies for SMEs, so that SMEs do not suffer due to the carbon neutrality policy, which has become a recent global mega trend.”

The panel discussion was chaired by Oh Dong-yoon, President of the Korea Institute for Small and Medium Venture Business. At the session, Professor Kim Yong-jin of Sogang University stated, “The acceleration of digital transformation has a significant impact on SME management and survival, but SMEs with limited resources face difficulties in responding directly,” and argued, “The government should play the role of a ‘platform’ supporting digital transformation.”

Jo Bong-hyun, Vice President of IBK Industrial Bank of Korea, emphasized, “We need to establish a new economic paradigm called ‘Jungdaeseong,’ an economic structure led by SMEs,” and added, “We must innovate SME policies that fail to keep up with changing times, diversify support policies, and establish a systematic support organization such as a Presidential SME and Venture Committee.”

Kim Nam-geun, Chair of the Special Reform Legislation Committee of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, explained, “Unfair practices such as exclusive transaction structures cause SMEs to lose motivation for technology development and market expansion, so they must be corrected,” and said, “Legislative and administrative support should back SMEs, the economically weaker party, so they can unite and conclude coexistence agreements with large corporations to improve transaction conditions.”

Han Byung-jun, Chairman of the Korea Information Industry Cooperative, pointed out, “While fostering the software industry is important for future job creation, there is a severe shortage of IT personnel,” and stressed, “Institutional improvements are needed so that SMEs can smoothly secure IT talent through education system reforms, including expanding software education from the basic stages.”

Kim Kiwon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, “The Federation recently announced to the public the ‘Suggestions from the SME Community for the 20th Presidential Election,’ which includes 56 detailed implementation tasks across five major areas to enable the ‘Era of Growth for 6.88 Million SMEs’ in the next government.” He added, “We will do our best to ensure that the opinions raised at today’s policy forum are reflected in the policy pledges of the 20th presidential candidates and adopted as future national agenda items.”

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