Design Promotion Institute "Supporting 50% of Labor Costs for Small Manufacturing Companies Hiring Designers"

'Manufacturing Company Design Workforce Support Project'
Recruiting 90 Small and Medium Manufacturing Companies
Designer Workforce Matching and Wage Subsidy

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Korea Institute of Design Promotion is recruiting participating companies for the 'Design Workforce Support Project,' which connects design professionals with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provides subsidies for labor costs, until the 31st of this month.

Since 2013, the institute has been promoting this project to support designers in small and medium-sized manufacturing companies to strengthen their design capabilities and create jobs. Up to last year, a total of 431 companies received support for design personnel, and 313 designers, accounting for 74% of the total supported workforce, were hired as regular employees.

This year, the project will support one designer per company for 90 SMEs and startups in the manufacturing sector, connecting a total of 90 designers. It will provide monthly subsidies covering 50% of the minimum labor cost by rank according to experience, based on the 2021 designer wage rates by grade.

Participating companies will be comprehensively evaluated on factors such as design utilization plans and the possibility of continuous employment, and will be finally selected through a review by an evaluation committee. Companies designated as Design Innovation Enterprises, Global Lifestyle Premium, or recipients of Excellent Design (GD) product awards will receive additional points during the document evaluation.

Among last year's participating companies, 'Comax,' which develops dental dust collectors, improved the materials and usability of its products to launch new products. Compared to 2019 before hiring a designer (1.3 billion KRW), it achieved more than double sales (2.7 billion KRW) and increased exports by over 1 million USD.

Yoon Sang-heum, President of the Korea Institute of Design Promotion, said, "We will create a virtuous cycle that provides opportunities for SMEs to utilize design and creates quality jobs for designers."

Detailed information about the project is available on the Korea Institute of Design Promotion website. Company applications are accepted online until the 31st, and designer applications until the end of October.

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