Gyeongbuk Gyeongsan and Jeonnam Muan Selected as Final Host Institutions for Small Business Complex Support Center

Support for Establishing Complex Facilities
to Aid Small Businesses with Up to 2.5 Billion Won
in National Funding Over Two Years

On the 5th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that Gyeongsan City in Gyeongbuk Province and Muan County in Jeonnam Province have been finally selected as the lead organizations for the Small Business Complex Support Centers to revitalize and establish the foundation of small business clusters.

The Small Business Complex Support Center is a dedicated complex support facility for small businesses that provides advanced equipment necessary for product development and smart technology adoption, product exhibition, sales, experience, education, and online marketing. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the local governments, which serve as lead organizations, provide one-stop support for small businesses’ product planning, joint production, market development, and business model discovery through the complex support centers. To date, 11 complex support centers have been established and operated within small business cluster areas.

The newly selected Gyeongsan City in Gyeongbuk Province is an area densely populated with small businesses in the metal processing products and machinery equipment industries. Due to the nature of these industries, expensive equipment and facilities are required, but by establishing and operating advanced processing facilities and equipment that can be jointly utilized through the center, it is expected that the individual small businesses’ equipment burden will be significantly reduced. Additionally, this area is a specialized high-tech industrial complex where not only small businesses but also small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies in the automobile, battery, and semiconductor sectors are concentrated. An organic cooperative ecosystem between these companies and small businesses has been formed, and small businesses play a pivotal role in supplying parts and materials within this large-scale industrial ecosystem. With the establishment of this complex support center, it is anticipated that the technological capabilities and production capacity of small businesses will improve, strengthening win-win cooperation between finished product manufacturers and parts and materials manufacturing small businesses, thereby contributing to enhancing the industrial competitiveness within the region.

Muan County in Jeonnam Province was designated as the Muan Ceramic Complex Industrial Zone in 2023, laying the foundation for national-level ceramic industry promotion. This area forms the nation’s largest living ceramic cluster, where all processes of the ceramic industry?from securing clay raw materials to production and wholesale and retail distribution?are established. Muan County plans to develop the ceramic small business complex support center not merely as a manufacturing support facility but as a complex cultural space equipped with new product development rooms, design spaces, exhibition and sales areas, and facilities for operating experience programs. Through this, ceramic small businesses will gain new market channels and opportunities to create added value, while tourists will be offered differentiated cultural experiences, maximizing the synergy effect between industry and tourism.

Choi Won-young, Director of the Small Business Policy Office, stated, "The two selected regions each have distinctive industrial bases?advanced manufacturing and traditional craft industries?so the operational effectiveness of the Small Business Complex Support Centers is expected to be maximized. In particular, through the centers, we plan to reduce the management burden on individual small businesses and support joint marketing and market development, thereby establishing a sustainable growth foundation for small businesses."