The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced on the 20th that it signed an MOU with the Seoul Rehabilitation Court to ▲regularize technology transactions for bankrupt companies and ▲establish a fast track for bankruptcy and rehabilitation for small business owners.
During the bankruptcy process, technology (patents) are generally not converted (sold) and are destroyed after liquidation. As a result, privately owned technology is lost, resulting in economic losses. In addition, procedural inefficiencies have occurred as the period required to complete liquidation increases.
Accordingly, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been promoting the institutionalization of technology transactions between bankrupt companies in cooperation with the Seoul Rehabilitation Court since November of last year to preserve the technological competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies through the transfer of bankrupt companies' technology to demand companies, prevent duplicate financial investment by the government, and expedite the implementation of corporate bankruptcy procedures.
Bankruptcy company technology transactions are a business in which the bankruptcy administrator entrusts the Technology Guarantee Fund with mediation of patents under his/her jurisdiction, and the Technology Guarantee Fund supports the conclusion of matching and transfer contracts by utilizing the AI technology transaction platform 'Smart Tech Bridge'. In February of this year, the Technology Guarantee Fund received 27 cases as a pilot mediation entrustment from the Seoul Rehabilitation Court, and is supporting the conclusion of contracts by matching 10 cases in 3 weeks.
Looking at the matched technologies, the information and communication technology field was the most with 9 cases, and biomaterials technology was also included. There were also 6 technologies that national finances were invested in, 3 of which were the results of local government and government R&D, and the remaining 3 were public technologies developed by universities and transferred to small and medium-sized enterprises.
In addition, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Seoul Rehabilitation Court decided to establish a 'Special Division for Small Business Institutional Cases' within the Seoul Rehabilitation Court to reduce the burden on small business owners who have entered personal rehabilitation and bankruptcy procedures and to enable them to quickly complete debt adjustment.
Accordingly, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to support small business owners in need of debt adjustment by providing them with financial and legal expert consultations and applications for customized debt adjustment procedures such as personal rehabilitation and bankruptcy, and also provide assistance with preparing application documents and administrative costs.
And if a small business owner who has received counseling applies for public debt adjustment procedures such as personal rehabilitation or bankruptcy through a lawyer commissioned by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the court will classify it as a case through an agency and proceed with a quick review procedure through a specialized trial division (fast track).
This agreement with the Seoul Rehabilitation Court will be operated as a pilot project targeting small business owners in the Seoul area, and in the future, after reviewing the performance of the operation with the Seoul Rehabilitation Court, we are actively considering expanding the application to the 13 rehabilitation and district courts nationwide.
Vice Minister Kim Seong-seop said, “In a situation where economic instability is worsening the management difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners, this business agreement with the Seoul Rehabilitation Court is a policy turning point that simultaneously prevents bankrupt companies from losing their technology and helps small business owners recover quickly.” He added, “We will continue to support small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners so that they can overcome the crisis and become the main players in economic recovery.”
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