The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that it will recruit maker space collaborative (consortium) hosting organizations with maker support capabilities from January 7 to February 3.
Makerspaces are spaces that support manufacturing startups, including education and prototype production, by enabling makers to realize their ideas using manufacturing equipment such as 3D printers and laser cutters. Currently, there are about 50 makerspaces in operation nationwide.
Through this, as of 2023, 670,000 people used the facilities and equipment to produce more than 160,000 prototypes and created more than 500 new businesses, playing a key role in revitalizing the manufacturing industry.
IoT Plus Co., Ltd. developed a software coding learning device using prototype production equipment provided by the maker space, and based on this, recorded sales of 1.62 billion won, establishing itself as a successful startup example.
The collaborative makerspace program currently recruiting applicants will consist of three organizations forming a consortium, each leveraging its respective strengths to operate a collaborative program. Any organization (or company) possessing the equipment and personnel necessary for prototyping and commercialization, as well as the will and capacity to foster manufacturing startups, is eligible to participate. Eight final host organizations will be selected through a three-stage evaluation process. The selected collaborative host organizations will receive approximately KRW 630 million in annual operating expenses for manufacturing startups.
Kyung-won Cho, Director of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “We will maximize the synergy in supporting manufacturing startups between the hosting organizations by recruiting collaborative maker spaces,” and “We will continue to work to revitalize the manufacturing startup ecosystem so that we can discover excellent (potential) entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and help them take the first step toward starting a business.”
For more details, please refer to the business announcement on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website or the K-Startup website .
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