The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has begun recruiting startups to participate in the "Strategic Task Solving" public-private partnership open innovation project, which supports collaboration between startups and demand-side companies, such as large and mid-sized enterprises and public institutions.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 23rd that it will recruit startups to participate in the 'Strategic Task Solving Type' from June 24 to July 14.

Selected startups will receive collaboration funds of up to 140 million won per project to support proof-of-concept (PoC) testing and prototype production. Outstanding companies will receive follow-up collaboration support (up to 200 million won) as well as opportunities to link with technology development programs, such as the Startup Growth Technology Development and Public-Private Joint Technology Commercialization.

The recruitment process proceeds in the following order: recruitment announcement for startups, document evaluation, meetups with client companies (online and offline), presentation evaluation, and collaborative project execution.

It was announced that approximately three times the number of candidates will be selected during the document evaluation, and the final selection will be made after evaluating the collaboration plan with the client company.

This recruitment is being carried out using a supplementary budget to reflect on-site demand.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has more than doubled the scale of support compared to the first recruitment round (30 companies) to enable more startups to secure market entry opportunities through collaboration with client companies.We plan to select and support 70 companies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups explained that the importance of open innovation is growing.

In a survey by the Korea Institute of SMEs and Startups, 46.6% of startups responded that they lacked internal capabilities to promote innovation activities, and in a survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, linking sales channels (33.6%) and technology exchange (12.7%) between large and medium-sized enterprises and startups were cited as tasks for the development of the startup ecosystem.

Cho Kyung-won, Director General of Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “For startups to grow, opportunities to verify technology in the field and commercialize it are crucial,” adding, “We will actively support startups so that they can generate results by utilizing the infrastructure of client companies and establish a foundation for growth through mutually beneficial partnerships.”

You can check the application method and detailed support information on the K-Startup website.