Park Young-sun "Digitalization of SMEs is Inevitable, Cooperation is Necessary"... APEC Ministerial Meeting

Minister of SMEs and Startups
Introduction to Korea's SME Digitalization Policy

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) SME Ministers' Meeting (via video conference) held on the 23rd.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] "The post-pandemic daily life will be different from before, and the digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is inevitable."

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, said this on the 23rd (Korean time) at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) SME Ministers' Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, adding, "In the new world and digital era, we must cooperate."

The meeting was held to share examples of SME support policies from various countries in response to the COVID-19 crisis and to discuss future directions for SME digitalization policies in the post-COVID era. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the meeting was held as a non-face-to-face (untact) video conference.

Minister Park emphasized, "In the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the realm of non-face-to-face online activities is rapidly expanding in all sectors worldwide," and added, "The need to strongly promote SME digitalization policies to strengthen the resilience of SMEs vulnerable to crises due to lack of capital and information is increasing."

Minister Park introduced the policy directions of 'untact venture fostering,' 'innovation platform establishment,' and 'digitalization of small merchants,' which have been prioritized since the beginning of the year. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been promoting 'a great transition to the digital economy, Smart Korea' as a key policy task even before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Minister Park explained, "Despite difficulties caused by COVID-19, Korea was able to minimize economic damage because innovative startups turned the crisis into an opportunity," and said, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is focusing on fostering startups in the untact sector." She added, "We will establish a Smart Korea Fund that invests intensively in untact and bio sectors."

Minister Park also emphasized that building innovation platforms is the government's responsibility, stating that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will support SME digitalization through platforms and connect demand and supply.

The government is promoting the distribution of 30,000 smart factories by 2022. An artificial intelligence (AI) manufacturing platform for smart factory advancement is also under construction. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is supporting innovation of SMEs by building untact service platforms and actively promoting digitalization of small merchants.

She said, "We plan to fundamentally enhance the self-sustainability of alleyway merchants so that they can grow into global small merchants by promoting the digitalization of traditional markets and distributing 100,000 smart stores."

APEC includes 21 countries such as Korea, the United States, China, and Japan. At this meeting, participants adopted a joint declaration emphasizing cooperation among member countries amid the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 and the digitalization, innovation, and technology of small merchants and SMEs.