Korea SMEs and Startups Agency Holds 'Stainless Steel SME Innovation Idea' Awards Ceremony

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz), in collaboration with the Korea Iron & Steel Association, held the award ceremony for the '3rd Stainless Steel SME Innovation Idea Contest' on the 24th at the SME DMC Tower.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, this contest, held for the third time this year, was organized to discover innovative ideas from SMEs utilizing stainless steel materials to promote win-win cooperation between large and small businesses and to create new demand.

A total of 14 companies participated in this contest, and based on evaluation criteria such as marketability, technical feasibility, innovativeness, and need for consulting, six companies (including one mid-sized company) were selected through the first (document) and second (presentation) rounds of evaluation.

The Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award was given to 'Hyrium Industry' for developing a liquefied hydrogen storage tank using high-strength STS steel. The newly established Minister of SMEs and Startups Award this year was awarded to 'Addsteel' for developing stainless steel flooring for livestock barns (pig houses).

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business President's Award went to 'Steellight' for developing stainless steel irregular roofing forming and design technology, and 'Highsten' for developing a stainless steel pipe joint with a welding-free fastening method.

The Korea Iron & Steel Association President's Award was given to 'Geumgang' for developing a stainless steel polyurea composite pipe and to 'Daechang' for developing low-cost brazing welding materials for air conditioner piping.

The award-winning companies will receive a win-win support fund of 10 million KRW each for ministerial awards and 5 million KRW each for other awards, along with consulting and customized support from POSCO experts, the sponsor.

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, said, “We expect this contest to serve as a catalyst for the growth of SMEs that have innovative ideas but face difficulties in commercialization due to limitations in capital and technology.” He added, “We will continue to discover and regularize cooperative projects like this contest to provide more opportunities to SMEs with good ideas.”

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