Recruitment of SMEs Participating in Carbon-Neutral Smart Factory Support Project

One-Stop Support for the Three Major Carbon Neutrality Packages

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Kwon Chil-seung, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 24th that it is recruiting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies wishing to participate in the 'Carbon Neutral Smart Factory' support project. It supports 24 companies in relevant industries where carbon reduction is urgent. Specifically, the target industries include the top 10 high carbon-emitting SMEs such as automobile parts and 14 root technology industries including casting and welding.

The Ministry plans to focus support by selecting SMEs and mid-sized companies that will perform designated tasks by pre-identifying processes effective for carbon reduction to clarify the support contents for carbon neutrality. However, if there is no suitable designated task for the applying company, it is also possible to freely propose their own carbon neutrality tasks linked to the field. The support amount is divided according to the target level of process intelligence, with 50 million KRW (basic) and 200 million KRW (advanced) per company, providing a total of 4 billion KRW in national funds. For facility investments requiring large-scale funds such as high-efficiency equipment improvement, additional support of up to 10 billion KRW per company is possible through loans linked with policy funds from the Small and Medium Business Corporation.

The Ministry explained that the distinctive support content of this carbon-neutral smart factory is to provide one-stop support for the three major carbon neutrality packages: ▲ energy diagnosis and design consulting ▲ ICT-based carbon reduction process innovation ▲ high-efficiency equipment improvement. Energy diagnosis and process experts visit the site to measure energy by process and suggest carbon reduction strategies. Based on the results, customized support for building carbon-neutral factories and improving high-efficiency equipment is provided.

Lee Hyun-jo, head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group at the Ministry, said, "With the growing domestic and international demand for carbon neutrality, we hope many companies will participate in this project that can achieve both efficiency improvement through smart factory construction and carbon reduction simultaneously."

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