SMEs Ministry Special Performance Awards: 34 Million Won Granted to 10 Individuals from 5 Projects

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that on the 21st, it held the '2026 1st Special Performance Award Policy Evaluation Meeting for Public Officials' at Tipstown, awarding a total of 34 million won in prize money to 10 individuals from 5 projects who achieved outstanding results in the implementation of SME policies.

This evaluation for the Special Performance Awards was conducted in a new way, moving away from the traditional internal review process. Instead, policy beneficiaries-such as SMEs, startups, venture companies, small business owners-and private sector experts directly evaluated the projects and determined the final rankings. In addition, the final ranking process was broadcast live on YouTube to enhance transparency.

On the 21st, awardees are taking a commemorative photo at the '2026 First Special Performance Bonus Policy Evaluation Meeting for Civil Servants' held at Tipstown in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. From the left: Officer Kim Geonyoung, Assistant Officer Kim Jiyeon, Officer Jeon Sangyong, Officer Cha Sanghoon, Officer Choi Jeongmin, Officer Park Junhyeong. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

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At the policy evaluation meeting, public officials in charge of the final five projects-selected through two rounds of rigorous review by private and public evaluation committees from among 30 projects (teams or individuals) submitted via recommendations from SME-related associations and organizations, self-nomination, or peer nomination-participated in the event.

The final evaluation of the five projects was determined by combining the scores from a judging panel of 100 people: 10 private sector experts attending the evaluation meeting (50%), 10 policy customers (30%), and 80 policy customers who participated in an online preliminary review (20%).

As a result of the evaluation, Officer Cha Sanghoon from the Technology Protection Division was awarded the Grand Prize (1st place) for advancing the SME technology protection system by introducing the 'Korean-style Discovery System (K-Discovery)' for the first time across all ministries. He received a special performance award of 10 million won.

The Excellence Award went to Officer Kim Gunyoung, who promoted the reduction of SME application documents (7 million won), and to four officials including Officer Jeon Sangyong, who promoted the Win-Win Payback system (10 million won in total). For the Encouragement Award, Officer Choi Jungmin, who launched the National Startup One-Stop Support Center (3 million won), and three officials including Officer Park Junhyung, who opened up public data to startups (4 million won in total), were selected.

This challenge saw the participation of 124 startup companies and direct evaluations by 3,383 policy customers, which was recognized for simultaneously ensuring transparency and efficiency in administration. Going forward, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to regularly operate the Special Performance Award system every quarter, and also to grant additional awards on an ad-hoc basis to public officials who achieve outstanding results.

Minister Han Seongsook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups stated, "We will continue to promote a public office culture that spreads 'tangible policies' that can be truly felt by SMEs, startups, venture companies, and small business owners."

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