The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the MSS) announced the ‘Measures to Expand AI Utilization through Fostering AI Startups’ at the 3rd National Artificial Intelligence Committee chaired by Acting Chairman Choi Sang-mok on the 20th.
Recently, major advanced countries such as the US, EU, and France have announced large-scale private investment in the AI field worth hundreds of trillions of won, and Chinese startup DeepSec is shocking the market by developing an AI model at the level of US big tech through SW and algorithm innovation. In order to respond to these global changes, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has also announced measures to foster AI startups and expand the use of AI in small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that through this measure, it plans to intensively foster AI startups that develop and provide AI services and solutions, thereby securing world-class competitiveness in terms of services and utilization. It also presented a goal of increasing the AI utilization rate of SMEs to 50% by 2027 (28% in 2024) and fostering five global AI unicorns.
First, we support strengthening AI startup capabilities by sector. We support the development of AI models through collaboration between companies, foster startups that provide AI services by sector, such as manufacturing and finance, and create and expand new business models. In addition, we are promoting the establishment of a 'data creation LAB' that can create and synthesize data, and designate 100 manufacturing AI specialized companies to provide intensive support in the form of loans and guarantees of up to KRW 10 billion per company, as well as funding, manpower, and sales channel expansion.
Second, we support the creation of demand markets for AI services developed by startups through open innovation. To this end, we plan to utilize public-private cooperation innovation projects, etc. to have large companies and startups collaborate to develop AI services specialized for solving specific industrial problems, and to spread the successful cases of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's industry/sector autonomous manufacturing leading project through smart factory construction projects. In addition, we support education and consulting so that small and medium-sized enterprise executives and employees can increase their understanding of and need for AI utilization.
Third, we will strengthen support for AI startups. 60% (KRW 5.7 trillion) of the total new liquidity supply for SMEs (KRW 9.8 trillion) in loans and guarantees in 2025 will be focused on innovative growth areas such as AI and semiconductors, and by 2027, we will create and operate an AI fund worth approximately KRW 3 trillion from government and private funds to significantly expand financial support for AI startups.
In addition, we plan to invest and supply more than 50% of the new R&D budget for small and medium-sized enterprises (KRW 330.1 billion) in strategic technology fields such as AI, and focus on supporting challenging tasks in the AI field in high-risk and high-performance R&D projects* that support up to KRW 10 billion by combining R&D funds and private investment. In addition, we will introduce an AI-specialized accelerator system to support joint research with overseas AI-related organizations (such as MIT) and support overseas expansion.
Minister Oh Young-joo said, “We have entered an era where AI technology is being applied to everyday products such as TVs, washing machines, and watches. In this situation, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, startups, and small and medium-sized enterprises must all have a sense of crisis and prepare for it.” He added, “We will use the shock provided by DeepSec as an opportunity for a new leap forward, focus on specialized AI service fields that startups and small and medium-sized enterprises can excel in, foster national AI startups, and strive to dominate AI technology and the market.”
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