WinWin Honors Plaque Award Ceremony Held on the 7th
Various Benefits Provided Including TV Broadcast Promotion
On the afternoon of November 7, at Hotel Atrium Jongno, Won Young-jun, Director of the Small Business Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (center), and representatives of companies selected for the Win-Win Honors are posing for a commemorative photo at the 'Win-Win Honors Plaque Award Ceremony.' [Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups]
Five win-win growth activities between large and small-medium enterprises?‘POSCO-Graphene Square,’ ‘Lotte Chemical-Lowreet Collective,’ ‘Korea Environment Corporation-Poien,’ ‘Korea Midland Power-Zetacregen,’ and ‘Korea Credit Guarantee Fund-Amosense’?have been selected as this year’s first ‘Win-Win Honors.’
On the 7th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the ‘Win-Win Honors Plaque Award Ceremony’ and jointly presented commemorative plaques to the large corporations, public institutions, and their representative partner SMEs chosen as Win-Win Honors recipients.
The Win-Win Honors go beyond one-sided or charitable win-win activities conducted by large corporations and public institutions toward their partners. It is an excellent case selected by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for new win-win growth activities that generate mutual benefits as one team not only with partner companies but also with non-partner companies.
Selected companies and institutions receive various benefits, including TV broadcast promotion, issuance of preferential immigration cards, exemption from regular surveys on consignment transactions for two years, preferential treatment in government awards related to win-win growth, and the presentation of commemorative plaques.
POSCO established a win-win cooperation system with the venture company Graphene Square to commercialize new businesses based on graphene materials and component technology and to create the Pohang Venture Valley. Since 2021, Graphene Square has relocated its headquarters to Pohang and built mass production facilities through cooperation with POSCO. In January, it received the CES Best Innovation Award in the U.S. and was consecutively awarded the Invention of the Year by Time magazine last year and this year. It also succeeded in attracting investments worth approximately 20 billion KRW from Samsung Venture Investment, EcoPro Partners, and others.
Lotte Chemical succeeded in commercializing recycled benches with Lowreet Collective, a small and venture plastic manufacturing company. Ten benches were installed in Cheonggyecheon through the ‘Pilot Project for Establishing a Resource Circulation Ecosystem in Cheonggyecheon.’ The recycled benches also won the main prize at the 2023 German iF Design Awards.
Zetacregen, a small company manufacturing industrial robots, collaborated with Korea Midland Power to successfully develop ‘unmanned underwater robot dredging technology.’ They jointly obtained a patent with Korea Midland Power last year. As a result, they expanded their business area, increasing sales from 42 million KRW to 120 million KRW.
Korea Environment Corporation supported the review of coffee grounds recycling technology commissioned by Starbucks last year and collaborated with Poien, which produces recycled products such as tables and flowerpots using coffee grounds, to create ‘Cafe Earth’ within the corporation’s building. Through cafe operations, they expect to recycle 11,760 kg of coffee grounds, reduce 21,056 kg of carbon dioxide, and achieve youth employment over five years.
Won Young-jun, Director of the Small Business Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Win-Win Honors are excellent cases of win-win growth where not only large corporations and public institutions but also SMEs play a leading role.” He added, “We will strive to discover and spread new excellent cases of win-win growth based on ‘cooperation and partnership’ to foster a culture where large and small enterprises grow together.”
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