Ministry of SMEs and Startups Focuses Support on Technology Transfer Commercialization

Announcement of the 2025 Support Project for Revitalizing Technology Transactions in SMEs
Driving Innovative Growth for Small and Medium Enterprises

On the 16th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the launch of the "2025 Support Project for Revitalizing Technology Transactions in Small and Medium Enterprises" to activate the technology transaction market for SMEs and assist in the commercialization of technologies transferred to SMEs.

This project consists of integrated support and infrastructure development programs. The integrated support program aids SMEs that have introduced or plan to introduce external technologies by providing a commercialization roadmap through consulting with specialized institutions, and covering commercialization costs such as labor expenses for internalizing the introduced technology and technology verification. Additionally, it comprehensively supports interest costs incurred when utilizing the Intellectual Property Acquisition Guarantee from the Korea Technology Finance Corporation.

Notably, from this year, the support amount for the integrated support program has been significantly increased. Among the selected companies for integrated support, general companies will receive an increase from the previous 36 million KRW to 110 million KRW, and core companies will see an increase from 106 million KRW to 210 million KRW. Furthermore, to alleviate the financial burden SMEs face during commercialization, the support interest rate for interest costs incurred when using the Intellectual Property Acquisition Guarantee has been raised from an average of 1.7 percentage points in 2024 to 2.5 percentage points.

The infrastructure development project aims to activate the SME technology transaction market by discovering technology demands from SMEs and providing supply technology information held by universities and public research institutes through the technology explanation material platform, Smart Tech Bridge. It also supports intermediary fees and technology valuation costs incurred during the technology transfer process.

In 2025, to prevent technology theft during the technology transaction process, up to five cases of technology data transaction registration, which can be used as favorable evidence in technology infringement disputes with acquiring companies, will be supported. Additionally, the limit for technology valuation cost support for appropriate royalty calculation will be increased from 5 million KRW to 10 million KRW. Moreover, a new support project for technology exports to overseas countries such as Vietnam will be established and operated.