Busy KOTRA Boosting Exports... Voucher National Public Idea Contest Award Ceremony

Final Selection of Four Teams in the Voucher Project Sector

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] KOTRA held the award ceremony for the '2022 Export Voucher National Idea Contest' on the 14th at its headquarters in Yeomgok-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul.

The export voucher is a service that allows participating companies to freely select and use services necessary for export tasks by using voucher coupons. The voucher menu includes a total of 8,000 services across 13 fields such as design, promotion, certification, and international transportation.

This contest, held since September, was promoted to discover new services that help our small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies with exports amid the urgent need to improve the trade deficit.

In particular, it focused on discovering services that can respond to supply chain restructuring, digital transformation, and ESG (environment, social, and governance) trends in line with changes in the global trade environment.

More than 80 business ideas were submitted to this contest, which was held for the first time targeting the public this year, and four teams were ultimately awarded.

The grand prize was awarded to a trade document management automation template subscription service. This service provides a one-stop solution on the website for overall trade procedures such as communication with buyers, invoice management, and trade document preparation.

The excellence award went to a product lifecycle assessment support project for responding to environmental regulations on export products, while the encouragement awards were given to an ESG consulting service for overseas public procurement entry and a customized survey service, respectively.

Jeon Chunwoo, head of KOTRA's SME and Mid-sized Enterprise Division, said, "The contest is meaningful in that it discovered ideas needed by companies from the public’s perspective during the export emergency situation," adding, "We will contribute to strengthening the export capabilities of our companies by linking the valuable ideas proposed by the public with the voucher project."

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