Improvement of Policy Communication System for Smart Factory Support Projects

Selection and Management Procedures Reduced from 12 Steps to 8 Steps

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that the '2025 Smart Manufacturing Innovation Support Project Integrated Announcement' will be launched early on the 7th, three months ahead of the usual schedule.

In response to recent changes in the domestic and international environment such as supply chain restructuring and the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), the government plans to continuously promote digital manufacturing innovation for 25,000 manufacturing companies by 2027. To this end, the support will be divided into a total of 14 projects focusing on proactively reflecting tasks necessary for the strategic development of technology supply companies, establishing manufacturing data standardization and guidelines required for digital connections between factories and companies instead of individual equipment-centered approaches.

Through this, advanced smart factories applying AI and digital twin technologies such as autonomous factories, large and small win-win type factories, and inter-ministerial collaborative factories will be disseminated. Additionally, manufacturing robots and process automation will be promoted to improve the working environment of small-scale manufacturing companies, prevent industrial accidents, and resolve labor shortages.

Furthermore, to strategically foster the smart manufacturing industry, the comprehensive cloud solution and supply company capability diagnosis projects will be expanded. Support for national standard policy research and manufacturing data standardization will be increased by more than 100% compared to this year to promote the establishment of standard-based smart factories and revitalize the smart manufacturing ecosystem.

Specifically, the integrated announcement will be advanced by three months and announced annually in September to October as in previous years, with some projects accepting applications immediately. The selection and management procedures for supported companies will be shortened from 12 steps to 8 steps. A clause exempting document evaluation at the selection stage has been newly established, and the submission of a completed business plan before applying for the project has been revised. In the task management process, to resolve the issue of extended construction periods due to delays in technology design by supply companies, it has been stipulated that the project must be completed within three months after the business agreement. Additionally, the final supervision and completion inspection, which had concerns about duplication, have been integrated, and the currently mandatory intensive AS system will only be conducted when supplementation is necessary.

Finally, the scoring system has been significantly reorganized, reducing a total of 29 recognized items to 4 categories. The scoring criteria per item have been unified from 3-5 points to 3 points, and the separate additional scoring system that previously granted extra points has been abolished. Detailed information can be found in the detailed project announcements.

Kim Woo-jung, Regional Innovation Policy Officer at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “We have made efforts to rationally improve the policy delivery system from the perspective of the demand side,” and added, “Going forward, we will focus on strategically fostering the smart manufacturing industry and advancing the related ecosystem.”