[Report] Domestic Innovative SME Technologies Gathered in One Place... Visiting the '2023 Small and Medium Business Technology and Management Innovation Expo'

Export Support for SMEs and Awards for Meritorious Contributors to be Held at BEXCO, Busan on 17th and 18th

Jung Kwangcheon, CEO of Ivy Leaders, is introducing his company's services at the '2023 Small and Medium Business Technology and Management Innovation Exhibition' held on the 17th at BEXCO in Busan.

"When urban air mobility (UAM) such as drone taxis becomes active, a completely new market will open."

On the 17th at BEXCO in Busan, Jung Kwang-cheon, CEO of Ivy Leaders, said, "The world's 50,000 airports are our market." Founded in 2003, Ivy Leaders is a small and medium-sized enterprise that develops and operates 'SKYROAD,' a flight procedure and airspace design program. Developed as a national project, SKYROAD complies with international regulations and provides flight routes and information for each zone to help ensure aircraft operation safety. CEO Jung expects another opportunity to arise in the aviation information sector as the commercialization of drone taxis approaches. He said, "Drone taxis will also have their information managed like airplanes, and our technology is ahead of the US and Europe," adding, "Our goal is to dominate not only the domestic market but also overseas markets."

The InnoBiz Association and MainBiz Association are holding the '2023 SME Technology and Management Innovation Expo' here until the 18th. The Technology and Management Innovation Expo is an event held to support the innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises in response to rapidly changing technological and management environments. This year, the scale was expanded by integrating the 'SME Technology Innovation Expo,' which started in 2000, and the 'SME Management Innovation Competition,' held since 2018.

DYENG is a company specializing in secondary battery recycling process equipment. The waste battery market is a promising field expected to grow to 12 trillion KRW by 2030. DYENG possesses technology that converts waste batteries or by-products from them into powder (black powder) suitable for post-processing smelting through crushing and heat treatment processes. Shin Dong-yeop, CEO of DYENG, said, "Having worked in the battery industry for over 10 years, I have a deep understanding of battery processes and materials," adding, "Based on this experience, we will establish a solid position in the waste battery market."

Union City officials are setting up a company booth and preparing to welcome visitors at the "2023 Small and Medium Enterprise Technology and Management Innovation Expo" held at BEXCO in Busan on the 17th.

At another booth, Union City was met, a company with outstanding technology in the smart bus stop sector. Smart bus stops analyze passenger flow through the Internet of Things (IoT) and various sensors and measure surrounding environmental information such as fine dust. Since its establishment in 1995, Union City has developed and supplied public facilities such as smart bus stops and traffic signal poles. Recently, it developed cooling/heating benches and a snow melting system that melts snow accumulated on roads, targeting overseas markets. Lee Doo-won, head of quality control at Union City, explained, "As smart city development draws attention to our technology, we are increasing supply nationwide in Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, and other cities," adding, "Our goal is to be recognized overseas based on the technology acknowledged domestically."

The InnoBiz Association held a separate '2023 Technology Export Strategy Seminar' at this Innovation Expo to support SMEs with excellent technology but facing difficulties in developing overseas sales channels, like these companies. The seminar targeted 20 innovative companies pursuing overseas technology exports and local factory establishment, and 20 innovative companies interested in entering the global defense market.

The seminar featured presentations on topics such as the meaning of technology export and factory entry, understanding licenses and royalties, preventing technology leakage during business processes, negotiation strategies, failure and success cases, and analysis of domestic and international defense market cases. After the seminar, one-on-one individual consultations were conducted through prior application. Consulting was provided on issues faced by participating companies, including technology export contract performance guarantees, establishment of local joint ventures and manufacturing plants, prevention of technology leakage, and essential certifications for entering the defense market. Kim Se-jong, policy researcher at the InnoBiz Association, said, "Since 2019, the technology trade deficit of SMEs has been expanding," adding, "We will actively support their technology exports and spare no effort to help them prepare ahead of economic environment changes."

From the 17th for two days, companies set up exhibition booths to showcase their services at the '2023 Small and Medium Business Technology and Management Innovation Expo' held at BEXCO in Busan.