'Large and Small-Medium Enterprise Technology Cooperation Fair' Held... "Future Together"

Excellence Awards for Outstanding Companies, 1:1 Purchase Consultations
Ministry of SMEs and Startups "Will Strengthen Policy Support"

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 21st that it held the ‘2023 Large and Small-Medium Enterprise Win-Win Technology Cooperation Fair’ at COEX in Seoul.

On the 20th, at the Scale-up Center of Seoul Startup Hub in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where the launch ceremony of the first private venture mother fund was held, Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, delivered a congratulatory speech ahead of the ceremony. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

This event was conducted to activate technology cooperation between large and small-medium enterprises through the purchase condition-based new product development (R&D) project and to share and spread its achievements. The fair, held for the second time this year following last year, carried the slogan ‘Technology Together, Future Together.’ It featured awards for outstanding companies, presentations of best practices, a purchase consultation meeting through one-on-one matching between large and small-medium enterprises, and briefings on future technologies of interest to large corporations.

At the event, the Minister of SMEs and Startups awarded 10 meritorious individuals who achieved excellent results through technology cooperation between small businesses and demand companies.

The award-winning small business Bycom, investment company Renault Korea, and Korea Water Resources Corporation emphasized the necessity of the purchase condition-based R&D project for win-win cooperation between large and small-medium enterprises through presentations of representative best cases that successfully commercialized through mutual technology cooperation.

Eight large and medium-sized enterprises, including SK Ecoplant, KT, and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, signed technology development agreements with eight small businesses selected for the ‘Win-Win Cooperation-Based Innovative Challenge Projects.’

The subsequent win-win technology matching consultations became a meeting place where new partnerships could be formed by discovering new cooperative companies and securing new demand sources. In the win-win technology matching consultations, 40 large, medium-sized enterprises, and public institutions and 147 small businesses discussed win-win cooperation plans through 219 matched consultations out of 924 pre-registered technology cooperation demands and on-site matching consultations requested by small businesses at the event.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to support large and small-medium enterprises that confirmed technology cooperation demands and promised technology development through joint investment-type technology development projects based on this consultation meeting.

At the ‘Future Technology Briefing,’ representatives from KT, Incheon International Airport Corporation, Korea Railroad Corporation, and Pohang University of Science and Technology were invited to explain future technologies in related industries and communicate with small businesses. For small businesses, it was an opportunity to set career paths regarding the vision and business direction of the industry, and for large and public enterprises, it was a chance to hear the on-site voices of excellent small businesses.

In the following ‘Purchase Policy Briefing,’ Lotte Department Store, Pulmuone, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and Korea Midland Power guided small businesses wishing to trade with them on the criteria and methods to become their business partners.

Lee Dae-hee, Director of the Small Business Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “The purchase condition-based R&D project is distinguished and strong compared to other R&D projects in that it supports private autonomous win-win cooperation and mutual growth through demand-based technology development among large, medium, and small enterprises.” He added, “Through this project, we will strengthen policy support, such as continuously expanding the public-private joint investment fund, so that small businesses with excellent technology development capabilities can diversify technology cooperation channels and secure new growth engines.”

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