The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Chairman Kim Jong-ho, hereinafter referred to as “KIBO”) announced on Thursday, the 11th, that it will sign a “Mutual Cooperation Agreement for Strengthening Demonstration and R&D Competitiveness of Daejeon’s SMEs” with Daejeon Metropolitan City (Mayor Lee Jang-woo, hereinafter referred to as “Daejeon City”) at the Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall.
This agreement was pursued by both organizations to establish a full-cycle cooperation system for securing national core strategic technologies for local small and medium-sized enterprises and for successful commercialization by utilizing the innovation capabilities of the Daejeon region, which is concentrated with technical talent and research infrastructure centered around the Daedeok Innopolis.
According to the agreement, KIBO will link financial and non-financial support, including technology assessment, technology guarantee, and investment, to local innovative growth SMEs, while Daejeon City plans to expand its institutional foundation, including policymaking for demonstration R&D support projects and provision of demonstration infrastructure.
In addition, through this agreement, the two organizations plan to strengthen cooperation to ensure that R&D companies in future core strategic technology fields such as aerospace, biohealth, nano and semiconductors (Chips), defense, and robots can stably secure the necessary funds for technology development and verification stages.
In particular, the "Daejeon Customized R&D Linkage Support Program (Daejeon-type BIRD Program)" will be newly introduced as a key collaborative project under this agreement. This program consists of three stages: Stage 1: Pre-R&D Guarantee (KRW 100 million guaranteed by Kibo), Stage 2: R&D (KRW 100 million in Daejeon City funding), and Stage 3: Post-R&D Commercialization Fund Guarantee (up to KRW 3 billion guaranteed by Kibo).
This program is Kibo's representative R&D full-cycle support model. It breaks away from the existing method of providing fragmented support through subsidies and loans and supports the entire process of R&D planning, development, verification, and commercialization of small and medium-sized enterprises, thereby ensuring that technological development leads to tangible business results.
Park Joo-sun, Executive Director of Kibo, said, “Through this agreement, a foundation has been established for local innovative companies with future strategic technologies to secure stable funding for the verification stage and leap forward to the growth stage.” He added, “Going forward, Kibo will expand collaboration with related organizations to strengthen support for R&D commercialization based on various innovative finances, and actively support R&D companies in securing competitiveness and successfully entering the market.”
Meanwhile, KIBO has been supporting the activation of private demand-driven R&D performance through the BIRD program since 2023, and this year, it is continuing to strengthen its R&D support base by signing a business agreement to expand its reach to non-metropolitan local governments.
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