"Cooperatives Should Serve as AX Hubs for SMEs"

Korea Federation of SMEs Hosts Policy Forum on "New Growth Engines for SMEs: Spreading the AX Policy"

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on May 18 that it held the "Forum on Policies to Spread the 'AI Transformation (AX)' as a New Growth Engine for SMEs" at the Yeouido headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs. This forum was organized to identify policy demands that reflect the voices of SMEs, which form the backbone of Korea's economy, amid the era-defining trend of industrial artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, and to discuss customized support strategies to promote the widespread adoption of AX throughout the SME sector.

Oh Kiwoong, Senior Vice President of the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "Most SMEs are currently excluded from the AX boom, so now is the time to go beyond slogans and discuss concrete action plans for the widespread adoption of AX across the SME sector." He added, "To ensure effective AX, it is necessary to develop specialized AX models tailored to the characteristics of each industry, and cooperatives organized by industry can serve as AX hubs."

From the fourth person on the left, Oh Kiwoong, Executive Vice President of the Korea Federation of SMEs, Jin Byungchae, Professor at KAIST, Lee Younghwan, Director of the Digital Innovation Research Center at Korea University, and Yang Chanhoe, Executive Director of the Korea Federation of SMEs, along with other panel participants, are taking a commemorative photo. Korea Federation of SMEs

Jumi Kim, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Small Business Institute, who delivered the first keynote presentation, spoke on the topic of "AX Policy Directions Tailored to Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises." She analyzed the current state of AX adoption in small and medium manufacturing companies and argued for a shift in policy direction from a 'supplier-centric' model to one that focuses on 'industry ecosystem-centric' approaches. Kim emphasized, "The key issue is the gap in AX adoption across industries. Rather than supporting individual companies alone, we need to establish an industry-level joint response system and set differentiated policy support directions for each sector."

Lee Younghwan, Director of the Digital Innovation Research Center at Korea University, who delivered the next keynote presentation on "Maximizing the Spread of AX in the Field of SMEs," presented several strategies needed for AX adoption among SMEs, based on an analysis of best practices. He recommended support policies that leverage intermediary organizations at the sectoral level. He also proposed a framework for AX diffusion consisting of: ▲ Aggregation of common demands by industry ▲ Joint demonstration projects ▲ Establishment of standard AX models ▲ Industry-level dissemination. He emphasized the importance of industry-specific associations and organizations serving as AX platforms.

During the comprehensive discussion moderated by Jin Byung-chae, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at KAIST, experts from the private sector, government, and academia discussed customized support strategies for spreading AX in the field of SMEs and future tasks. Yang Chanhwe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "To spread AX among SMEs, an industry-based approach is effective, especially when production processes and on-site challenges are similar. By leveraging cooperatives that possess organized industry networks, it is possible to jointly develop and validate AI models specialized for each sector and establish an AX model that can be expanded horizontally."

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