Gyeonggi-do Secures 8.2 Billion KRW for SME R&D Budget, Increasing by 2 Billion KRW from Previous Year

Gyeonggi Province will support a total of KRW 8.25 billion for 55 projects under two programs, the ‘Gyeonggi Province Technology Development Project’ and the ‘Gyeonggi Province R&D First Step Enterprise Research Institute Support Project,’ to assist R&D companies within the province this year. This amount is KRW 2 billion more than last year. This is particularly notable compared to the significant cuts in the R&D budget by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration this year.

The Gyeonggi Province Technology Development Project is conducted to promote technology cooperation among industry, academia, and research institutes through collaboration between the province and city/county governments, and to strengthen the technological competitiveness of companies. Companies, universities, or research institutions located in Gyeonggi Province can participate. This year, nine cities/counties within the province are participating, with a total investment of KRW 4.85 billion, including KRW 4 billion from the provincial government and KRW 850 million from city/county governments.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

The support scale is up to KRW 100 million for 18 general projects, and for 17 projects involving the nine participating cities/counties, an additional KRW 50 million is provided by the respective city/county, making the maximum support KRW 150 million. The 17 participating cities/counties are Yongin, Goyang, Namyangju, Paju, Icheon, Pocheon, Yeoju, Dongducheon, and Gapyeong.

The Gyeonggi Province Technology Development Project is the province’s representative R&D project, which has invested KRW 173.9 billion in 1,052 projects over 16 years from 2008 to last year. Through this, it has achieved economic results seven times the investment, including KRW 9.4587 trillion in sales and KRW 385.8 billion in cost savings, and created 8,321 high-quality jobs.

The Gyeonggi Province R&D First Step Enterprise Research Institute Support Project aims to enhance companies’ technological competitiveness and strengthen regional innovation capabilities by selecting technology-based companies that have newly established corporate-affiliated research institutes or relocated from other local governments to Gyeonggi Province within the last three years, and providing initial R&D funding. Gyeonggi Province will invest up to KRW 150 million annually in 10 selected projects.

Gyeonggi Province has especially prepared an improvement plan to simplify application documents for the convenience of companies participating in the projects. Previously, applicants had to submit 13 documents for the ‘Gyeonggi Province Technology Development Project’ and 14 documents for the ‘R&D First Step Enterprise Research Institute Support Project.’ However, this year, only a technology overview and qualification documents need to be submitted. Nevertheless, companies shortlisted at three times the number of available spots after the document review must submit additional documents such as R&D plans and financial statements.

Kim Tae-geun, Director of the Digital Innovation Division of Gyeonggi Province, said, “To support the R&D of local companies facing a crisis due to government R&D budget cuts, we have secured budgets in cooperation with city and county governments and aim to realize a Gyeonggi Province with more opportunities through region-led technological innovation. We will support the continuous growth of Gyeonggi Province companies by reducing the burden at research sites, including cutting submission documents by 50% through document simplification.”

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