<기사제목>Ministry of SMEs and Startups Supports Network Connection and Collaboration Among Smart Factories

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 11th that it has opened applications for the Intelligent Factory (Smart Factory)-based General and Leading Digital Cooperation Zone (Cluster) support project, accepting applications from interested businesses until the 15th of next month.

The "Smart Factory-based General and Leading Digital Cluster Support Project" goes beyond supporting the smartification of individual factories. It supports multiple companies, including collaborative firms, by connecting smart factories through data and cooperation networks to jointly perform tasks such as division of labor production, logistics and material management, order placement and receipt, and sales and marketing.

In particular, the digital cluster connects collaborative companies like a single factory by utilizing digital technologies such as internet-based resource sharing (cloud), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI). Therefore, it moves away from the traditional location-based cluster model and enables diverse collaborations between companies located remotely regardless of region through digital technology.

Eligible applicants must form a consortium of SMEs or SMEs and mid-sized companies with collaboration demand, and support is provided through two tracks: General and Leading.

The General track first selects planning institutions such as Technoparks (TP) and cooperative organizations to systematically establish strategies and discover corporate demands. The planning institution recruits clusters with at least 10 manufacturing companies per consortium and submits proposals. After final evaluation, a total of 10 cluster consortia are selected and supported.

The Leading track supports consortia centered on a representative company (leading company) with closely linked collaboration structures across the upstream and downstream value chains. For this, each consortium must be composed of 15 or more manufacturing companies and apply together with an Information Strategy Planning (ISP) establishment institution. Three clusters will be selected in total, with two of the leading companies being SMEs.

Consortia are allowed to include additional related companies such as design, distribution, logistics, sales, and after-sales service, as long as the minimum number of manufacturing companies required for a flexible and optimized collaboration in the manufacturing ecosystem is met.

Participating cluster companies receive support for smart factory construction costs (50 million KRW, 200 million KRW, 400 million KRW) according to their smartification target level, along with support for building smart systems that enable inter-company linkage and joint utilization. Especially for the Leading track, up to 6.4 billion KRW will be additionally supported over the next three years for joint and collaborative smart system construction, enabling the creation of global-level manufacturing synergies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to provide policy support through specialized institutions to ensure fairness and transparency among collaborating companies and to facilitate mutual cooperation such as technology protection and decision-making for sustainable commercialization.

Park Jong-chan, Head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "To strengthen the global competitiveness of manufacturing SMEs, network-type collaboration based on individual companies’ flexibility and cost competitiveness is important," adding, "The digital cluster project will contribute to the qualitative advancement of the manufacturing innovation ecosystem through win-win cooperation based on smart factories."

Detailed information about the support project can be found on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website or the project announcement on Smart Factory 1st Street, the dedicated project institution under the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group (affiliated with the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs). Applications can be submitted online through Smart Factory 1st Street.

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