TIPA Takes First Step to Strengthen Competitiveness of Social Economy Enterprises

Cooperation with Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency to Support Sustainable Growth of Social Enterprises and Social Venture Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jonghwa] The Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) announced on the 15th that it signed a business agreement with the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency (KoSEA) at the TIPA headquarters to 'support the strengthening of competitiveness of social economy enterprises.'

Through this agreement, both organizations agreed to cooperate to support the sustainable growth of social enterprises and social venture companies by ▲ jointly utilizing infrastructure, networks, and information to revitalize the social economy ▲ linking R&D support projects for outstanding social economy enterprises ▲ implementing policies to realize social value in the public sector.

In the second half of the year, through the announcement of the 'Startup Growth Technology Development Project Stepping Stone Task (Institution Recommendation Track)' (scheduled for announcement in May), exclusive R&D linkage support will be provided for social economy enterprises lacking experience in government-supported R&D projects.

The Startup Growth Technology Development Project Stepping Stone Task (Institution Recommendation Track) is a method where a designated linked recommending institution by TIPA conducts a separate preliminary evaluation and recommends candidates, after which TIPA selects social economy enterprises with excellent technological capabilities through an evaluation process and provides continuous R&D funding.

Additionally, for the selected social economy enterprises, follow-up support policies such as ▲ export support ▲ designation as excellent research and development innovative products will be linked to support the commercialization of technology development products.

Lee Jae-hong, President of TIPA, said, "Through this business agreement with KoSEA, a specialized institution for social enterprises, we will provide R&D linkage and follow-up support to social economy enterprises with excellent technological capabilities, which will help improve their technological competitiveness." He added, "We will continue to expand TIPA's support policies for social economy enterprises through various collaborative efforts."