Minister Lee Young, head of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the opening ceremony of the 'Delivery Price Linkage System Roadshow' held last February at the KT Woomyeon Research Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 22nd that it has selected 25 exemplary cases of proactive administration this year, including the delivery payment linkage system. Proactive administration refers to public officials actively interpreting regulations or handling assigned tasks from the perspective of the demand side, based on creativity and expertise, for the public interest.
The selected exemplary cases stood out for spreading a culture of proactive administration within ministries and resolving major difficulties from the perspective of policy demanders such as SMEs and small business owners. Including cases of proactive administration in public institutions, awards were given for cases that citizens can directly experience in frontline policy fields. Nineteen individuals and six departments were awarded in the individual and department categories, respectively.
The grand prizes in the individual category were awarded for four cases: the delivery payment linkage system, the Hwanggeumnyeok Donghaeng Festival, breaking down core regulations for SMEs and small business owners, and the establishment of a comprehensive inter-ministerial Startup Korea plan. Since the delivery payment linkage system was legislated this year, 150 roadshows have been held to ensure the system’s field settlement. Through this, the number of companies participating in the pilot operation of the linkage system increased from 4,208 as of September 11 to 9,321 as of the 20th. The plan is to increase this to 10,000 companies by the end of the year to enable more SMEs to participate.
The Hwanggeumnyeok Donghaeng Festival was held to overcome the increasing burdens on SMEs and small business owners caused by high interest rates and high labor costs. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups secured 260 online and offline distribution channels and actively collaborated with major conglomerates to expand sales channels for small business owners. As a result, during the September festival period, sales reached a record high of 1.7135 trillion won.
"Startup Technology Disputes, Seeing Hope Through Coexistence" won the individual category excellence award. This achievement shortened the dispute period for startups experiencing technology disputes with large corporations. By introducing a relief process for technology dispute cases, the time required to resolve disputes was reduced from an average of 26 months to within 6 months.
The grand prize in the department category was awarded to the "Noranwoosan Gongje" (Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid). The Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid system was launched in 2007 to protect small enterprises and small business owners. Although it has 1.7 million subscribers, it had mainly operated as a retirement fund after business closure. Reflecting field opinions that there were limitations in overcoming management crises and recovery for small business owners, the system was reformed to allow subscribers to receive and utilize mutual aid funds even in cases of temporary crises rather than business closure.
Lee Dae-geon, Policy Planning Officer at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “Proactive administration begins with the passion of public officials to improve the difficulties of the people and businesses,” and added, “We will continue to do our best so that proactive administration by public officials can be a stepping stone to building a better Republic of Korea.”
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