Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces '2023 Small and Medium Business Technology Innovation Development Project'

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 30th that it will conduct the '2023 SME Technology Innovation Development Project Announcement' to enhance the technological competitiveness of small and medium enterprises.

The SME Technology Innovation Development Project supports research and development (R&D) at each stage of innovation capability so that SMEs can scale up through technology development. Next year, it plans to support 775 new projects with a budget of 145.6 billion KRW.

Next year, to support SMEs' entry into overseas markets, the ministry plans to focus on supporting companies with global capabilities to promote challenging private-sector R&D.

Additionally, by actively promoting service R&D, it will support the creation of new value for SMEs and diversify SME R&D support methods by expanding 'private investment-linked' projects and introducing 'guarantee-linked' support methods.

In the 'export-oriented' projects that provide customized R&D support according to the growth stage of promising export SMEs, the support requirements for sales and export amounts will be subdivided. Support will also focus on companies with global market entry capabilities such as trilateral patent registration in target countries and acquisition of international standards and certifications.

A new service R&D project will be established to focus on the advancement of existing services, including derivative service development. Support requirements and project operation systems will be reorganized to reflect the characteristics of the service industry.

The scale of R&D contributions for the operation company exclusive track (Scale-Up TIPS) of 'private investment-linked' projects utilizing private specialized institutions will also be expanded.

Furthermore, a guarantee-linked project will be newly introduced to provide matching R&D contributions to companies that have received pre-guarantee (loans) through the Korea Technology Finance Corporation and to offer follow-up support with commercialization guarantees (loans) upon successful R&D.

The application period for the first half of the Technology Innovation Development Project is from January 16 to 30 next year. The application period for the second half is from April 10 to 28, and applicants must check the projects by detailed business and apply accordingly.

Detailed information on project applications can be found on the Technology Development Project Integrated Management System website and the Pan-Government Integrated Research Support System website.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, “The Technology Innovation Development Project is the ministry’s representative R&D project and has played a significant role in the innovative growth of SMEs by securing new technologies, attracting follow-up investments, and facilitating initial public offerings (IPOs). Especially next year, we will devote all efforts to ensuring definite results in SME R&D through securing technological competitiveness of global expansion companies, strengthening private investment-type R&D utilizing private selection capabilities, and actively promoting service R&D.”

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