Ministry of SMEs and Startups "Participants Wanted for Small Business Specialized Support Project"... Support for Smart Manufacturing, etc.

Target: Manufacturers with Fewer Than 10 Regular Employees
Applications Accepted from January 24 to February 21

The government will support small manufacturers in smart manufacturing, market development, and creating a clean manufacturing environment.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is sharing opinions with small business owners who attended the 'Small Business Cluster On-site Meeting' held on February 15 last year at the Seoul Metropolitan Small Business Specialized Support Center in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 23rd that it is recruiting small manufacturers to participate in the Small Manufacturer Specialized Support Project. Small manufacturers refer to companies engaged in manufacturing with fewer than 10 regular employees.

The Small Manufacturer Smart Manufacturing Support Project helps small manufacturers, whose workshops mainly rely on manual labor, introduce automation equipment to facilitate digital transformation of manufacturing processes, data collection and linkage, and the adoption of shared solutions. Support includes covering rental costs for hardware and software up to a national subsidy limit of 42 million KRW per company, and is divided into individual and cluster types (supporting groups of 10 to 25 companies).

The Small Manufacturer Market Development Support Project aims to strengthen the sales competitiveness of promising small manufacturers with growth potential and secure stable sales channels. Selected small manufacturers can autonomously choose necessary items such as exhibition participation, marketing, store entry, brand enhancement, and overseas market development, receiving support up to a national subsidy limit of 18 million KRW per company. This year, about 290 companies will be selected.

The Clean Manufacturing Environment Creation Project supports the improvement of a safe and pleasant working environment by conducting on-site inspections in small manufacturers’ workshops to prevent industrial accidents and introduce energy-efficient equipment. This year, a pilot environmental creation project will be promoted to jointly support safety equipment and fire prevention facilities targeting small manufacturer clusters.

Lee Dae-geon, Director of the Small Business Policy Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Small manufacturers account for 88.9% of the entire manufacturing industry in Korea, creating 1.28 million jobs, and play a foundational role in the domestic manufacturing industry and the livelihood economy, being widely distributed from root industries such as metal processing and machinery equipment to consumer goods industries such as food and clothing.”

Small manufacturers wishing to participate in the Small Manufacturer Specialized Support Project can apply through the Small Business 24 website from the 24th of this month until the 21st of next month.

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