Minister Kwon Chil-seung of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is giving a briefing on the venture investment trends for the first half of the year at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 28th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 29th that it will conduct the "2022 SME Technology Innovation Development Project Announcement" to support technology development for small and medium enterprises.
The new budget for the SME Technology Innovation Development Project next year is 174.5 billion KRW, an increase of 90.5% (82.9 billion KRW) compared to this year. The Ministry will support 963 new projects.
Overview of the 2022 Small and Medium Business Technology Innovation Development Project. [Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]
To eliminate blind spots in support, the Ministry abolished the sales ceiling criterion that limited eligibility to companies with annual sales under 70 billion KRW. In the materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) projects, a new support track for "re-advancing companies" was established. Re-advancing companies are those with more than 7 years of business experience and sales under 2 billion KRW.
To create future growth engines, a new budget of 155.7 billion KRW was allocated to key strategic areas such as the Korean New Deal, SoBuJang, and the Big 3 (BIG3). From next year, the Ministry will focus on nurturing future strategic sectors composed of three fields: system semiconductors, bio-health, and future automobiles, by distinguishing support according to these key areas.
In the SoBuJang sector, the existing supported items were expanded from 99 items in 9 major fields to 104 items in 9 major fields. The supported items in the Fourth Industrial Revolution sector increased from 138 items in 20 major fields this year to 178 items in 23 major fields. Additionally, to enhance the technological competitiveness of regional companies by diversifying the selection methods, a regional recommendation system will be newly introduced in the market-responsive projects in the second half of next year. This method involves project recommendations from six regional technology innovation centers and face-to-face evaluations by specialized institutions such as the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs.
2022 Small and Medium Business Technology Innovation Development Project Selection Method. [Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]
The project application period for the first half of next year is from December 17 of this year to February 3 of next year. The application period for the second half is from April 11 to April 25 next year. Applicants must check the projects for each half-year period and apply accordingly. In the first half, projects such as export-oriented, market expansion, market-responsive, Strong Small Business 100, and SoBuJang strategy will be supported. In the second half, projects such as market expansion (linked with private investment, post-payment type), market-responsive, and general SoBuJang will be supported.
Detailed information can be found on the SME Technology Development Project Integrated Management System.
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