Agency, MainBiz association pledge closer cooperation to support growth of management-innovation SMEs and their entry into public procurement market
Public Procurement Service Commissioner Baek Seung-bo met with Kim Myeong-jin, chairman of the Korea Management Innovation Small and Medium Business Association, known as MainBiz, in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss ways to expand management-innovation small and medium-sized enterprises' access to the public procurement market.
The meeting was organized to explore support measures that would allow SMEs — those that have secured competitiveness through management innovation amid challenging domestic and international conditions — to leverage the public procurement market as a new engine of growth, and to hear about difficulties companies face on the ground.
MainBiz is a nonprofit organization established in 2010 under the government's policy to foster innovative SMEs. It counts approximately 25,000 management-innovation small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide among its members.
Participants discussed how to make better use of public procurement systems — including the excellent product designation scheme and multiple-supplier contract arrangements — as well as the obstacles management-innovation SMEs encounter when entering the public market and areas in need of improvement.
The Procurement Service and MainBiz also agreed to continue cooperating to expand participation opportunities for innovative SMEs in public procurement and to provide tailored support at each stage of a company's growth.
"MainBiz member companies are driving growth and job creation in our economy through continuous innovation," Kim said. "We will strengthen our cooperation with the Procurement Service so that the public procurement market can become a new foundation for growth for innovative SMEs."
Commissioner Baek said management-innovation SMEs are "a core driver of our economy's competitiveness," adding that the agency would continue to actively reflect the voices of businesses on the ground and spare no effort in supporting outstanding small and medium-sized enterprises as they grow in the public procurement market and expand into broader markets.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
