The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the “KIBO”) announced on Friday the 23rd that it will establish and implement a special R&D guarantee for certification and demonstration purposes in order to promote the creation of R&D commercialization results for small and medium-sized venture companies.
This special guarantee was introduced to support companies selected for the “Certification and Demonstration Achievement Project” among the “SME Technology Innovation Development Project” of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to successfully complete their research and development projects and quickly pursue follow-up commercialization.
The certification/verification achievement type project is an R&D program in which R&D performing companies use their own funds to first conduct research and development with the goal of achieving objective certification/verification, and then the government compensates for the R&D expenses with subsidies based on the results. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to select and support 45 certification/verification type R&D projects this year.
Kibo will provide special guarantees of up to KRW 300 million, within 50% of the government-supported R&D expenses, to small and medium-sized enterprises carrying out the relevant projects, and will provide preferential benefits such as ▲increased guarantee ratio (100%) and ▲guarantee fee reduction (up to 1.0%p). In addition, it plans to provide follow-up commercialization funds of up to KRW 3 billion to companies that are judged to have been successful in certification and verification among the supported companies.
In addition, KIBO provides effective financial support through a business agreement with the Korea Technology Information Agency for Small and Medium Businesses (hereinafter referred to as the “KIIT”) and IBK Industrial Bank of Korea (hereinafter referred to as the “Bank”) for the expansion of private-sector-led R&D for small and medium-sized businesses. KIIT selects companies that perform projects and increases the ratio of advance payment contributions to 50%, and the bank applies exemption of early repayment fees, thereby easing the financial burden on companies.
Kibo expects that through this collaboration and special guarantee, private-sector-led technological innovation will spread throughout the entire R&D cycle and the success rate of technology commercialization by small and medium-sized enterprises will increase.
Kim Jong-ho, CEO of Kibo, said, “This special guarantee is a system that supports the entire R&D cycle from research and development to certification, verification, and follow-up commercialization so that innovative companies can maximize their commercialization performance on their own.” He added, “Going forward, Kibo will continue to strengthen the private-sector-led customized R&D support system through close collaboration with relevant organizations and strive to create R&D performance for small and medium-sized venture companies.”
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