Ministry of Industry Supports Commercialization of Demand and Supply Companies in SoBuJang with 30 Billion Won Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 15th that it will support 30 billion KRW in government funding for commercialization cooperation between about 100 demand and supply companies through the '2023 Materials, Parts, and Equipment (SoBuJang) Mass Production Performance Evaluation Support Project.'

This project supports the evaluation and verification of the performance and yield of SoBuJang products developed by domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies on the actual production lines of demand companies such as large corporations. Participating supply companies can expect rapid and stable commercialization after technology development through actual linkage with demand companies.

After the project ends, companies can receive a performance evaluation certificate from the demand company, which can be used for performance improvement and new market development.

Starting this year, reflecting the ongoing rise in raw material and material costs, the upper limit for cost support for 'mass production performance evaluation' has been expanded from 200 million KRW to 300 million KRW. If additional performance improvements are required at the request of the demand company during the evaluation process, up to 200 million KRW will be additionally supported.

In addition, the support target has been reorganized from the previous focus on 100 high-dependency items on Japan to 150 core strategic technology-related items in seven fields including semiconductors and displays, providing broader support.

If a letter of intent to purchase or purchase agreement is submitted by the demand company for the mass production performance evaluation target items, priority support will be provided to enhance commercialization outcomes.

Since its implementation, the project has invested 147 billion KRW in performance evaluations of 498 demand and supply companies over the past four years.

Furthermore, with major large corporations such as Samsung Electronics and LG Display participating as demand companies every year, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy introduced that commercialization results of 185.1 billion KRW were achieved as of 2021, greatly contributing to the commercialization of domestic SoBuJang items.

The application period is from the 16th to the 16th of next month, and detailed information and procedures can be checked on the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) project management system.