Kukpyowon Promotes Reform of New Product Certification System Focused on Exports... Strengthening Support for Export-Oriented Innovative Companies

"Urgent Need to Revise Certification Evaluation Indicators to Reflect Export Performance"

On the 11th, the National Institute of Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a 'New Product Certification System (NEP) Reform Plan Meeting' at the Korea Industrial Technology Promotion Association in Seoul to discuss ways to foster export-oriented innovative companies.

The meeting was attended by related organizations such as the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, Korea Industrial Technology Promotion Association, Korea Industrial Complex Corporation, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, and Korea Technology Finance Corporation, as well as company representatives from Irangtec and Curiosis, who shared various opinions on the limitations of the current system and directions for improvement.

NEP is a government-certified system designed to support the initial market entry of newly developed technologies or innovative products domestically. It is evaluated to contribute to motivating companies to develop technology and supporting market entry. Since its introduction in 2006, a total of 1,311 products have been certified to date.

However, recently, limitations have been pointed out as the utilization of certified products has been concentrated in the domestic market, and export performance remains at a low level. Accordingly, the National Institute of Technology and Standards is promoting a reform of the system to strengthen export incentives so that new product certification companies can leap forward as practical export innovation companies, and to support overseas expansion of companies in advanced fields such as robotics, future mobility, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Participants at the meeting emphasized that "it is urgent to revise the certification evaluation indicators to reflect export performance" and that "excellent R&D outcomes should be linked to new product certification" to foster export-oriented companies.

Jeon Eung-gil, Director of the Conformity Policy Bureau at the National Institute of Technology and Standards, said, "In an increasingly complex global trade environment, technological competitiveness is more important than anything else," adding, "We plan to continuously collect industry opinions during the process of preparing future system reform plans."