The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that it held a ‘Regional Innovation Roundtable’ together with the Small and Medium Business Technology Information Promotion Agency at Spaceware Seoul Station Center on the 13th.
Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been operating a roundtable to discuss innovative policy directions with experts from industry and academia to ‘revitalize the local economy by strengthening the competitiveness of local SMEs.’
This roundtable focused on 'building an AI manufacturing innovation supply chain based on new industries by regional base' and 'policy direction for small and medium-sized enterprises for future industry response and sustainable growth' as key tasks that will determine the future of the region. In particular, it focused on finding policy directions to secure regional self-reliance and achieve national balanced development amid complex structural changes such as low birth rate and aging population, local extinction, and global supply chain crisis.
The meeting was centered around two presentations, followed by a comprehensive discussion where various policy suggestions centered on local issues were made.
In the first presentation, GIP Strategy Research Institute Director Jeong Jong-seok diagnosed that “the gap in economic power and innovation capacity between the metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas continues to widen, which is the main cause of the extinction of local areas,” and proposed that “there is a need to build an AI manufacturing innovation supply chain based on new industries in each regional base” as a measure to overcome this.
Director Jeong continued, “The fostering of small and medium-sized and venture companies that belong to the 10 major future food industries in the region linked to the ultra-gap and strategic industries of national policy is an essential condition for national balanced development and regional innovative growth.” He emphasized, “It is important to create an innovative manufacturing ecosystem through the convergence of AI technology and the 10 major future food industries, and to this end, it is necessary to intensively foster about 30,000 local small and medium-sized venture companies.”
He added, “The budget and policy tools of all ministries, including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, must be invested intensively.”
The second presentation was given by Kim Sang-shin, head of the Regional SME Innovation Team at the Korea Institute for SMEs and Startups, and he presented on the topic of ‘Policy recommendations for supporting SMEs for future industry response and sustainable regional growth.’
Team Leader Kim explained, “Local small and medium-sized enterprises are the center of local employment and play an important role in maintaining the industrial ecosystem and balanced development,” and diagnosed, “It is important to establish a foundation for regional self-reliance by strengthening the linkage between local governments, universities, and innovative organizations.”
He continued, “In order to respond to the decline in regional innovation capacity and the crisis of regional extinction, and to foster anchor companies that can create stable jobs, a policy foundation centered on corporate growth led by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups must be established,” and suggested, “To support this, it is necessary to establish a policy network for strengthening the R&D capacity of regional SMEs and linking them with all ministries.”
Participants agreed that the foundation for balanced regional development and national economic growth lies in the recovery of the regional economy, and that fostering small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies is essential for this. There was also a consensus that this could be a driving force to reduce the gap between the metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas and lead to a renaissance in the manufacturing industry in Korea.
In addition, the importance of linkage strategies between future new industries such as AI, semiconductors, eco-friendly energy, and bio and regional SMEs was discussed, as well as the importance of 'regional customized SME support policies' that take into account regional industrial characteristics, human resource supply and demand, and living conditions.
Noh Yong-seok, director of the Small and Medium Business Policy Office, said, “This roundtable is very meaningful in seeking practical policy alternatives that reflect the rapidly changing external environment, such as the introduction of AI and digital transformation, as well as regional characteristics and industrial bases.” He added, “We plan to actively reflect the opinions presented in designing follow-up policies for balanced regional development and fostering small and medium-sized businesses in the region.”
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to continue to regularly hold roundtables with participation of private sector experts to continuously discover policy needs and ideas from local areas and strengthen the policy foundation for creating an innovation ecosystem for local SMEs and venture companies.
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