Achieving a Cumulative Food Technology Transfer Fee of 2.7 Billion KRW

A representative of Geumsan Heuksam, the grand prize winner of the Best Case in Rural Convergence Industry, is taking a commemorative photo.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The cumulative licensing fees for the practical technology transaction and transfer support project, aimed at facilitating the transfer of food technologies owned by universities and government research institutes to companies, have reached 2.7 billion KRW.

This project, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs since 2019 and implemented by the Korea Agricultural Technology Commercialization Foundation, was established to help small food companies supplement their low internal research and development (R&D) investment by utilizing external technology acquisition for growth. The core of the project is to support innovative growth of food companies through technology discovery, technology brokerage for technology transfer, and product development after technology acquisition via the foundation and private technology transaction institutions.

In reality, 91% of food companies have fewer than 10 employees, and while the manufacturing industry invests 2.22% of total sales in R&D, the food manufacturing industry only invests 0.36%.

Global leading companies are pursuing open innovation strategies that leverage their strengths to improve R&D efficiency, and domestic small and medium enterprises are rapidly innovating through C&D (Connect & Develop) by combining excellent external technologies with their own technologies.

Accordingly, to secure food technology and strengthen networks, the number of technology-holding institutions has been expanded annually, currently forming and operating a ‘Food Technology Transfer Council’ with 41 related organizations. The council produces and distributes materials introducing detailed information such as the development level and application stage of the technologies it holds, making it easier for companies to access technologies.

Additionally, every year, the ‘Overseas Excellent Food Trend Book’ is published to provide information on overseas food markets and related patents for food tech, medifood, senior-friendly foods, alternative foods, and convenience foods. To help food companies achieve practical growth by developing products after technology acquisition, a detailed project called ‘Food Technology Commercialization Support’ is also operated, enabling prototype production and design development.

Especially this year, to overcome the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, a new ‘Food Technology Applied Product Non-face-to-face Marketing Support Project’ was launched, allowing food companies to receive various supports such as product promotion using social media.

By establishing a comprehensive technology commercialization support system specialized in the food sector, the project has achieved remarkable results in just three years, signing technology transfer contracts for 24 cases with upfront licensing fees of 780 million KRW in 2019, 56 cases with 1.02 billion KRW in 2020, and 73 cases with 1.052 billion KRW in 2021 for food technologies developed by universities and government research institutes.

Among the companies that received technology transfers, Geumsan Heuksam Corporation, an agricultural corporation, launched a health functional food using black ginseng and is conducting continuous R&D for individual recognition through efficacy evaluations for liver function improvement and osteoporosis. After the technology transfer in April this year, they established the process and developed product package design, releasing ‘Jiirak Bit,’ made primarily from black ginseng root and black rice ginseng, in December this year.

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