"Preventing Regional Extinction"... Strengthening Cooperation Between the Ministry of SMEs, Ministry of the Interior, and Local Governments

Preliminary Selection of 22 Regional Innovation Projects
Regional SME Development Program + Local Extinction Response Fund

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and local governments will strengthen cooperation to respond to regional extinction.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 20th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that they have preliminarily selected 22 outstanding projects by soliciting regional innovation tasks to respond to regional extinction this year. As a result of the call for proposals targeting 107 population-declining and interested areas from January 11 to the 16th of last month, 34 basic local governments applied for projects.

The regional innovation contest project focuses on jointly supporting local SME development projects and regional extinction response funds by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety when local governments plan SME development tasks to create jobs in the region. This program was introduced to create synergy in policies responding to regional extinction, and 12 projects were selected for the first time last year. For example, Buyeo-gun in Chungnam is promoting the “Smart Farm Complex Development” project, which upgrades the smart farm complex and promotes the influx of living population.

One of the major projects preliminarily selected in this contest is “Sapling Industry Advancement” in Okcheon-gun, Chungbuk. Using the regional extinction response fund from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, rental housing for sapling industry workers will be built to attract workers, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will support sapling companies by resolving technical difficulties, improving design, and marketing. The project “Technology Business Advancement for Hydrogen Company Development” in Samcheok-si, Gangwon-do involves the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and local governments establishing a “Hydrogen Specialized Industrial Complex,” and supporting hydrogen companies residing in the industrial complex with certification consulting to secure product reliability and customized market research for companies.

The final projects will be selected according to the budget size to be confirmed later.

Kim Woo-jung, Director of Regional Enterprise Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “It is most important to operate a collaborative system among ministries, moving away from siloed government support, for effective response to regional extinction,” and added, “We will actively strive to continuously communicate with related ministries and local governments to share and solve the regional extinction issue together.”

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