Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Support 1.8 Trillion KRW SME Technology Development Projects Next Year... "Largest Scale Ever"

The Largest Scale Ever... Responding to COVID-19 and the 4th Industrial Revolution
Strengthening Autonomy in R&D Sites... Simplifying and Reforming Systems

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 19th that it will conduct an integrated announcement for the 2022 SME technology development support project, totaling 1.8338 trillion KRW.

The support scale for next year is the largest ever, increasing by 110.9 billion KRW compared to this year. The focus is on overcoming the COVID-19 crisis, global expansion of SMEs, and realizing innovative growth.

To secure future growth engines and technological competitiveness for SMEs, focused support will be provided to key strategic areas such as the Korean New Deal (Digital, Green, Regional Balance), BIG3 (System Semiconductors, Future Cars, Biohealth), and materials, parts, and equipment.

Additionally, to achieve the 2030 carbon neutrality goal and reflect demand-driven research and development, eight new projects (66.2 billion KRW) have been added, including carbon neutrality leading model development, Net Zero technology innovation development, and living lab utilization technology development.

Support will also back the stable domestic supply chain and localization of core items in materials, parts, and equipment (new projects 55.3 billion KRW), and focus on technology development in the non-face-to-face sector (new projects 23.2 billion KRW) to respond to the transition to a digital economy and a contactless society.

Furthermore, new product technology development for regional key industries and regional star companies (new projects 67.4 billion KRW) will be supported, and a new industry-academia-research platform cooperative technology development project (new 7.5 billion KRW) will be launched.

As in this year, to alleviate the burden on SMEs struggling due to COVID-19, private burden ratios, cash burden proportions, and extension of technology fee payments (up to 2 years) will continue.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has prepared improvement measures to strengthen autonomy in R&D sites and simplify execution procedures from the demand-side perspective.

The submission deadline for annual reports will be extended to the end of the year, and progress checks will be abolished to enable continuous R&D execution, significantly improving the system. Also, fixed costs such as labor costs, which previously had to be applied for monthly, will be allowed to be applied for quarterly.

Detailed information on support targets, contents, and conditions will be shared through future detailed project announcements, and a non-face-to-face briefing session is planned to be held from the 29th.

Information on the integrated announcement and subsequent detailed project announcements can be found on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website, the Corporate Plaza, or the Technology Development Project Integrated Management System.

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