[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 27th that it will conduct a technology demand survey to plan new projects for the 'Consortium-type Technology Development Support Project.' The survey period is from the 28th to the 28th of next month.
The Consortium-type Technology Development Support Project is a program that supports small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to jointly develop technology with large corporations, mid-sized companies, universities, and research institutes. The Ministry supports up to four individual detailed projects bundled together. According to the Ministry, in a situation where technological convergence is accelerating, support focused on single projects with a two-year R&D period and funding of around 600 million KRW has limitations in creating disruptive innovation for SMEs.
This demand survey will focus on new growth engines capable of creating future food sources for SMEs, such as ▲materials, parts, equipment, future cars, semiconductors, bio-health, ▲decarbonization and ESG (environment, social, governance), and ▲the Korean New Deal.
The Ministry plans to support projects discovered and planned through the demand survey by a designated public offering method, enabling SMEs to utilize various external capabilities such as large corporations for technology development. The Ministry will actively identify demands for projects where large corporations must develop technology jointly with SME partners or projects requiring collaboration among multiple companies, and complete detailed planning by the end of this year. Technology development will be supported from next year for up to four years with funding around 4 billion KRW.
To reduce the burden on proposers, the Ministry limited the demand survey form to within three pages. The demand survey form will be selected mainly based on the feasibility of consortium technology development support and the appropriateness of the promotion system and used for new project planning.
Yoon Semyung, Director of Technology Development at the Ministry, said, "With this support, SMEs are expected to move away from 'solo technology development' toward bold innovation through collaboration and convergence to achieve common goals and create high added value."
Detailed information related to the demand survey can be found on the Ministry’s Technology Development Project Integrated Management System.
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