Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Recruit Additional Small Business Owners for 'Smart Store Technology Dissemination'... Support for 1,400 Locations

On the 25th, visitors are exploring various kiosks at the Smart Store · Retail Expo held at KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do. This expo, which runs until the 27th, offers an opportunity to experience smart retail technologies, products, and services all in one place.
/Goyang=Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will additionally recruit small business owners to participate in the 'Smart Store Technology Dissemination Project' starting from the 9th.

The Smart Store Technology Dissemination Project supports small business owners by introducing smart technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to small retail stores, enabling them to respond to the digitalization of consumer and management environments.

This year, a total of about 6,900 small business stores will be selected and supported, categorized into individual small business owners, shopping districts, and industry-specific cooperatives and associations.

The additional recruitment starting from the 9th is due to the recent supplementary budget approval and plans to support 1,400 small business stores. It is characterized by continuous recruitment considering the demand from those preparing new businesses or wishing to introduce smart technologies during internal remodeling stages.

Upon final selection, participants can freely choose smart technologies from a pool of 140 smart technology supply companies. The introduction cost support covers 70% of the technology adoption cost, ranging from 5 million KRW (general type) to 15 million KRW (leading type).

The 2022 smart technology supply company pool, along with related information such as technical specifications and supply prices, has been disclosed on the Small Business Plaza website.

Park Chi-hyung, Director of Small Business Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "Through the expansion of this smart technology dissemination scale, we will actively support overcoming the management crisis caused by COVID-19 and help small businesses transform into competitive smart stores."

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