Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Provide New Support of 45.1 Billion KRW for Industry-Academia-Research Collaboration R&D This Year

100 Billion KRW for Phase 1 Preliminary Research of Newly Introduced Consortium-Type Projects
35.1 Billion KRW for Phase 1 Preliminary Research and Phase 2 Commercialization R&D of General-Type Projects

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the ‘2025 Industry-Academia-Research Institute Collabo R&D Implementation Plan.’

The Industry-Academia-Research Institute Collabo R&D is a representative technology development project for industry-academia-research collaboration operated by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups with a total budget of 377 billion KRW over 10 years from 2019 to 2028, after passing the preliminary feasibility study in 2018. It supports two phases: Phase 1 preliminary research and Phase 2 commercialization R&D. Among the projects that complete the 8-month Phase 1 preliminary research, outstanding projects are supported for 24 months in Phase 2 commercialization R&D.

From 2019 to last year, a total of 2.12 billion KRW was supported for 1,945 projects. An investigation of the cumulative achievements of 119 projects that completed technology development in 2022 showed sales of 24.4 billion KRW, exports of 3.9 billion KRW, 756 new jobs, and 228 patent applications and registrations.

Until last year, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could carry out open-call projects with one university or research institute through ‘general-type projects.’ Starting this year, a ‘consortium-type project’ will be additionally introduced to focus on fostering national strategic technology fields and regional strategic fields such as Legend50+ through collaboration between SMEs and multiple universities and research institutes.

The consortium-type project is conducted by forming a consortium of SMEs, universities, and research institutes, consisting of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 sub-projects. Furthermore, the results derived from the technology development of each sub-project must be individually commercializable and productizable, while also being able to interconnect with other sub-projects.

In addition, only when the lead organization of the sub-project is an SME, that SME can apply to be the principal research and development institution for up to two sub-projects within the consortium. Also, unlike general-type projects, consortium-type projects select Phase 2 commercialization R&D support projects through absolute evaluation rather than relative evaluation among applicants after completing Phase 1 preliminary research, provided the evaluation results exceed a certain score.

This year, 10 billion KRW will be supported for a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 100 consortium-type projects. Each consortium can freely plan and apply for the number of sub-projects and technology development plans within the designated fields according to the consortium’s purpose.

The implementation plan for general-type projects, which are not consortium-type projects, will be announced on the 23rd. General-type projects will support a total of 35.1 billion KRW for 414 Phase 1 preliminary research projects and 148 Phase 2 commercialization R&D projects. Phase 2 commercialization R&D projects can only be applied for by projects that have completed Phase 1 preliminary research in 2023?2024.

Park Yong-soon, Director of Technology Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “We expect that the establishment of consortium-type projects will satisfy the diverse collaborative technology development demands of SMEs,” adding, “We plan to actively support collaboration between SMEs, universities, and research institutes so that it leads to SME growth and the advancement of national strategic technology fields.”