Selected for Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Technopark equipment upgrade program, province to establish full-cycle support system
South Chungcheong Province announced Sunday it has been selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' "Technopark Production Equipment Upgrade Support" program and will use the funding to build a standing, full-cycle technology commercialization support system.
The project will pool the equipment and technical expertise of South Chungcheong Technopark and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to provide one-stop solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises in the province's key industries.
The ministry ran the competition targeting Technoparks outside the greater Seoul metropolitan area, evaluating applicants on their R&D planning and technical support capabilities and their potential to deliver results. Two consortiums nationwide were ultimately selected.
Through the selection, the province secured 1.05 billion won in national government funding and 450 million won in provincial funds, bringing the total project budget to 2 billion won. The six-month project is set to begin next month.
The South Chungcheong consortium is led by South Chungcheong Technopark as the principal institution, with KAIST serving as a participating institution.
South Chungcheong Technopark will handle company identification, equipment utilization and demonstration support, and commercialization linkage, while KAIST faculty will provide technical consulting, R&D project design and technology planning.
Local small and medium-sized enterprises have long struggled to translate their technology needs into concrete R&D projects. Existing support programs have also been noted for operating in silos, with a lack of coordination between stages continuously raised as a limitation on their ability to produce results.
Unlike conventional support programs, this project will address that fragmentation by linking all stages of the technology commercialization cycle — technical consulting, testing and certification, demonstration, proof of concept, R&D project planning, and technology development and investment linkage — with the aim of eliminating gaps between phases and maximizing commercialization outcomes.
"This selection gives us an important foundation to systematically upgrade the technology commercialization capabilities of local small and medium-sized enterprises," a provincial official said. "By combining South Chungcheong Technopark's hands-on company support with KAIST's outstanding research capabilities, we will further strengthen the competitiveness of South Chungcheong's materials, parts and equipment companies."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
