Koo Yoon-chul, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, "SOC Technology Market Establishes Foundation for Innovative Growth of SMEs"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] On the 2nd, Koo Yoon-cheol, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, held a 'Social Overhead Capital (SOC) Integrated Technology Market Inspection Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office and said, "A foundation has been established to provide systematic and diverse services for the innovative growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."

The SOC Integrated Technology Market is a platform for SMEs that have excellent technology or materials but face difficulties participating in public construction projects due to limitations such as delivery performance or technology verification.

Vice Minister Koo stated, "However, the use by SMEs was insufficient compared to expectations," and added, "There is a need for improvement in areas such as the fact that substantial and comprehensive support for SMEs has not yet been fully initiated."

He also explained, "A joint policy and procedure to unify the SME support window into the Integrated Technology Market must be established," and emphasized, "It should not be limited to the public offering and purchase of technology or products but provide one-stop services including technology development, certification, financial support, and overseas joint expansion so that the results are tangible to SMEs."

He added, "The SOC Integrated Technology Market case should be expanded to other fields such as energy and information technology (IT), and knowledge and experience should be transferred to other public institutions."

Additionally, he announced that policy support measures such as linking with the Public Procurement Service's innovative procurement platform and establishing operational regulations for innovative procurement in public institutions would be reviewed.

Meanwhile, related public institutions such as the Public Procurement Service, Korea Land and Housing Corporation, Incheon International Airport Corporation, and Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation attended the meeting.