Government to Foster Export-Driven Small Giants... "Providing Up to 10 Billion KRW in Policy Financing"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Hold 'SME Policy Deliberation Council' on the 30th
"Increase SME Export Contribution to 50%"
Strengthening Private Cooperation... Expanding Overseas Bases

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups

The government has rolled up its sleeves to foster export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For promising companies with annual exports of $5 million, it will provide a package support of 700 million KRW and policy financing of up to 10 billion KRW.

On the 30th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the 'SME Policy Council and Public-Private-Academic SME Export Activation Task Force Launch Ceremony' at the Government Seoul Office. The meeting, themed "Realizing an Export Powerhouse Led by SMEs," shared economic cooperation achievements to expand the Middle East boom and discussed support measures for exports to Japan.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups emphasized, "Exports are a proving ground for innovation and are very important to revitalizing our economy," adding, "The center of innovation is SMEs, ventures, and startups."

He also announced the goal of increasing the direct and indirect export contribution of SMEs to 50% by 2027 and achieving 50,000 startups expanding overseas.

First, through the 'Global Strong SMEs 1000+ Project,' about 1,000 promising export companies will be supported. Export vouchers will be provided according to annual export scale, categorized into promising, growth, strong, and strong+ stages, along with overseas marketing and financial support.

In particular, for strong SMEs with annual exports exceeding $5 million, support will be provided through ▲ a 700 million KRW package including export vouchers and research and development (R&D), ▲ linkage with policy financing (up to 10 billion KRW from the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, 7 billion KRW from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund), and ▲ preferential support for smart factories (5 bonus points).

Work is also underway to transform export incubators (BI), which have been operated mainly as independent rooms for nurturing and residency functions, into Global Business Centers (GBCs). These will be changed or relocated into open spaces in the form of shared offices that enable networking and collaboration.

The goal is to operate 20 locations in 12 countries (housing 267 companies) at major global trade hubs such as New York, Tokyo, and Dubai.

Additionally, considering the characteristics of each country, specialized programs will be operated at each center, including localization of products and services, acquisition of overseas certifications, and opening corporate accounts at local financial institutions. Exchange events between resident companies and local Korean and ethnic Korean organizations will also be held to operate the GBC as a collaboration hub for domestic and international businesspeople.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the 'Public-Private-Academic SME Export Activation Task Force,' involving export-related organizations, SME cooperative representatives, research institutes, and export companies, was launched. The task force plans to monitor and manage the export conditions and trends of SMEs and the progress of export support policies by each institution on a monthly basis.

While communicating with the industry to resolve field difficulties and suggestions, it also plans to discuss support measures and cooperative projects to expand exports to Japan and local market entry.

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