Ministry of SMEs and Startups Selects 13 Consortia for 'Digital Cluster' to Support Smart Factory Collaboration

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 19th that it has selected 13 consortia to participate in the ‘Digital Cluster (Leading Type and General Type) Construction Project,’ which supports connection and collaboration between smart factories, including the implementation of digital twins.

The ‘Digital Cluster Construction Project’ was established last year to go beyond individual factory-centered smartization by connecting data and networks based on smart factories across value chains or collaborating companies, enabling joint business activities such as ▲division of labor production ▲order placement and receipt ▲material management, logistics, and distribution ▲sales channels, marketing, and after-sales service (AS).

Each consortium must include more than 10 manufacturing companies, and by utilizing digital technology, it enables diverse collaboration as if they were a single factory even among distant companies, moving away from the traditional location-based cluster model.

The digital cluster project is divided into leading type and general type according to support period and advancement level. The leading type receives up to 9.7 billion KRW per consortium over the next three years, while the general type receives up to 2.5 billion KRW per consortium for one year.

The consortium will promote the construction of a joint and collaborative smart system that connects data and networks between factories along with the individual smart factory construction of participating companies.

This time, three leading type and ten general type consortia were selected.

Hyunjo Lee, Head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “The Digital Cluster Project will contribute greatly not only to creating various new businesses by connecting smart factories among collaborating companies but also to the win-win cooperation and growth of small and medium manufacturing enterprises.”

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