Gyeonggi-do Rolls Up Sleeves to Foster Small Giants... Recruiting 43 'Star Companies'

Gyeonggi Province is recruiting companies to participate in the Star Enterprise Development Project until the 18th of next month.

The Star Enterprise Development Project supports 70% of the total project cost according to corporate demand in three areas: product innovation, market development, and smart innovation.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

Through provincial matching investments, companies located in 11 cities and counties including Seongnam, Yongin, Hwaseong, Siheung, Paju, Bucheon, Icheon, Pyeongtaek, Anseong, Gwacheon, and Yeoju can receive up to 76 million KRW, while companies in other cities and counties can receive up to 38 million KRW. Gyeonggi Province has allocated a total of 3.3 billion KRW for this project.

Starting this year, Gyeonggi Province has strengthened the evaluation of corporate social responsibility and non-economic aspects by providing additional points for ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) diagnosis and evaluation, as well as for companies participating in the industrial complex RE100, to promote sustainable growth of selected companies.

Post-management will also be expanded, including the operation of Networking Day, to create synergy by leveraging the mutual strengths of selected companies.

Gyeonggi Province supports selected companies in prototype development, design development, intellectual property acquisition, promotion and market development, participation in domestic and international exhibitions, smart process improvement, and digital transformation according to the implementation plan submitted at the time of application.

Eligible applicants are small and medium-sized enterprises with annual sales between 5 billion KRW and less than 70 billion KRW as of 2022, that have had their main office or registered factory in the province for more than three years as of the announcement date, and operate a corporate-affiliated research institute or a dedicated research and development department within the province.

Since 2011, Gyeonggi Province has supported a total of 746 companies through the Star Enterprise Development Project. Among the supported companies, seven were selected as World Class companies, including Company I, which was selected for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s World Class Plus program last year.

Additionally, a total of 41 companies have been listed so far, including five companies such as Star Enterprise S, a food microbial detection diagnostic solution company, which were recognized for their technological capabilities and growth potential and listed on the KOSDAQ market last year.

Jinki Bae, Director of Corporate Development at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "We will do our best to support Gyeonggi-style innovative growth companies to grow into strong small and medium enterprises and eventually become representative companies of Korea."

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