SME R&D Projects, Government and Investment Firms Jointly Support Up to 2.4 Billion KRW

100 Billion KRW Scale, Purchase-Conditioned Joint Investment R&D, Project Applications Open Until May 7

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) announced that it will open applications for the 2021 Purchase-Conditioned New Product Development Project Joint Investment Type (formerly Public-Private Joint Investment Technology Development) free proposal tasks starting April 1 to support technology development for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The joint investment type project is a program where large corporations and other investing companies jointly provide technology development funds with the government to support SMEs in developing innovative products needed by the investing companies. The goal is to secure competitiveness in the value chain between investing companies and SMEs and to establish long-term partnerships.

Previously, under the Public-Private Joint Investment Technology Development Project, applicants were required to sign a purchase contract with the investing company when applying, and the support scale was up to 1 billion KRW over a maximum of 2 years. However, since the reorganization into the joint investment type last year, purchase contracts have been waived to support more challenging tasks, and the support scale has been expanded to up to 2.4 billion KRW over a maximum of 3 years.

This year, the joint investment type project plans to support a budget of 10.05 billion KRW by selecting new tasks. It will provide support in two formats: a free proposal format where SMEs propose tasks to investing companies, and a designated call format where SMEs are supported to perform R&D on tasks proposed by investing companies.

The joint investment type project is significant as a win-win cooperation project with SMEs, and it has also produced many achievements in the actual market. FilOptics Co., Ltd. is a representative company.

FilOptics Co., Ltd. succeeded in domestic production of exposure equipment, an essential device in the printed circuit board process. In 2012, it received a total of 540 million KRW in R&D funds from the government and Samsung Display to accelerate the development of OLED display laser processing equipment, and in 2014, it launched the world's first Flexible OLED laser cutting equipment.

Based on this, it recorded sales of approximately 380 billion KRW over five years, which is 600% of the initially expected purchase amount of 63 billion KRW from the investing company and more than 70,000% exceeding the investment amount, demonstrating outstanding performance. FilOptics Co., Ltd. was listed on KOSDAQ in 2017, and in December of the same year, it received the Export Tower Award for 70 million USD, the Presidential Award for Industrial Contribution to Job Creation, the Presidential Commendation at the 2019 SME Convention, and the Presidential Certification as a Leading Job Creation Company in Korea, leading the advanced equipment market.

Lee Jae-hong, President of TIPA, said, "This project is a program where the government and investing companies join forces to support SME R&D funds, serving as a driving force for win-win cooperation among project stakeholders," and added, "TIPA will do its utmost to support our SMEs to develop as equal partners in R&D with large corporations or public enterprises."

For more details, please check the 'Comprehensive Management System for SME Technology Development Support Projects,' and inquiries can be made through the SME Integrated Call Center (no area code needed, 1357).