Consulting, Technical Support, Marketing Package
Maximum Limit 50 Million KRW
On the 12th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the launch of the ‘2024 SME Innovation Voucher Support Project 1st Announcement,’ which offers a package of consulting, technical support, and marketing to strengthen the competitiveness of manufacturing SMEs.
This support project targets companies primarily engaged in manufacturing to enhance the innovation capabilities of SMEs and help those facing management crises to recover. It is divided into general, carbon-neutral management innovation, recovery consulting, and regional autonomous types, providing services in consulting, technical support, and marketing through a voucher system. The general voucher supports small enterprises with an average sales revenue of 12 billion KRW or less over the past three years.
The budget for next year is set at 55.8 billion KRW based on the government proposal, with approximately 40 billion KRW allocated for this first announcement. Selected companies will receive differential subsidy rates according to their average sales revenue over the past three years, with a maximum limit of 50 million KRW.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will lower the subsidy rates in the first support project to expand the number of companies eligible for voucher benefits. Next year, the rates will be adjusted downward by 5 percentage points from the previous 45-85% range, and the carbon-neutral management innovation voucher subsidy rate, which was as high as 90%, will also be adjusted to 45-85%, similar to the general voucher.
Additionally, only the primary business classification criteria under the Basic Law on SMEs will be applied, and the 50% product sales ratio criterion will be abolished. For example, a manufacturing company A with product sales of 5 billion KRW, merchandise sales of 4 billion KRW, and other sales of 3 billion KRW was previously ineligible for vouchers because the product sales ratio was below 50%, but from next year, it will be eligible.
Furthermore, to emphasize the importance of carbon-neutral implementation and ensure the successful execution of the regionally led specialized project ‘Legend 50+,’ the carbon-neutral management innovation voucher and regional autonomous voucher support will be extended to medium-sized enterprises.
Although the Serious Accident Punishment Act is expected to be expanded to small-scale SME workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, considering the insufficient preparation of micro SMEs, a new serious accident prevention voucher will be created. It will support the establishment of safety and health management systems and the procurement of safety equipment that effectively prevents accidents for manufacturing small enterprises, including work environment risk assessments and worker health management.
Minister Lee Young said, “Through the SME Innovation Voucher Project, we will support management innovation and smooth recovery of manufacturing SMEs, which form the foundation of the regional economy.”
The second announcement is planned to be conducted in the first half of next year with a budget of about 15 billion KRW for one type of regional autonomous voucher. It will be linked with the regional specialized project ‘Legend 50+.’
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