Ministry of SMEs and Startups Develops 'Comprehensive Productivity Innovation Plan for SMEs'

On the 1st, the 3rd Small and Medium Business Policy Council Meeting Held

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has established a comprehensive support system to innovate the entire value chain of enterprises by preparing the ‘Comprehensive Productivity Innovation Plan for the Entire Cycle of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).’

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the 3rd Small Business Policy Council of 2023 held on the 1st at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

On the 1st, the Ministry held the ‘3rd SME Policy Deliberation Committee Meeting of 2023’ at the International Conference Room of the Government Seoul Office and discussed three agenda items.

The first agenda item was the ‘Comprehensive Productivity Innovation Plan for the Entire Cycle of SMEs.’ A ‘Productivity Innovation One-Pass (POP) Program’ will be introduced for companies innovating across the entire value chain. When SMEs establish and apply with a comprehensive plan covering four major innovation activities?process innovation, product/service innovation, business model innovation, and management innovation?the government will approve and provide policy tools as an integrated package.

For SMEs wishing to establish a comprehensive plan, a dedicated public institution will conduct diagnosis and preliminary consulting. The plan will then be reviewed by a committee composed of private experts and others, and finally approved. After approval, the POP program will be applied to the companies, including priority business support, special measures, and rapid regulatory improvements. First, up to KRW 13 billion will be supported through priority allocation of related projects such as facility funds, research and development (R&D), workforce, and marketing.

Additionally, special measures will be introduced, such as setting different maximum stay periods for foreign workers when long-term retention is necessary, or applying measures equivalent to those for venture companies during mergers and acquisitions (M&A) such as mergers, stock exchanges, or business transfers. If approved companies request regulatory improvements during plan implementation, rapid improvements will be made through consultations with relevant ministries.

Alongside this, to assist SMEs lacking resources, connections will be made with private specialized institutions. From the comprehensive plan establishment stage, a pool of private specialized institutions will be provided and one-on-one matching will be arranged. After approval, private specialized institutions will support the supply of necessary equipment and software, as well as management and technical consulting for plan implementation.

A sustainable productivity innovation infrastructure will also be established. Through the construction of a ‘Productivity Innovation Platform,’ matching between private specialized institutions and demand companies, analysis and provision of productivity-related data, and sharing of best practices will be conducted. The government will periodically establish a basic plan for SME productivity innovation and conduct surveys on productivity status. Related statistics will be managed separately.

The second agenda item was the ‘Pilot Plan for Digital Transformation of Service SMEs.’ At this SME Policy Deliberation Committee meeting, the overall direction of the digital transformation strategy for service SMEs was reviewed and discussed. Specific implementation strategies and tasks will be finalized by the end of this year through in-depth consultations with experts and SMEs.

The final agenda item was the ‘Regional Specialization Project Implementation Plan.’ This aims to enhance the effectiveness and perceived impact of SME policies at the regional level. When local governments, technoparks, and other regional innovation institutions plan regional enterprise development projects considering local economic conditions and characteristics, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will collaborate with local governments. The implementation plan for the regional specialization project will be announced together with local governments at the ‘1st Regional Innovation Expo’ on the 2nd.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups emphasized, “We are now in an era where comprehensive support for the entire value chain of enterprises is required, moving away from supplier-centered functional support systems such as R&D, workforce, and marketing,” and added, “We will support all possible policy tools to promote productivity innovation in SMEs.”

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