Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Launch Future Industry Strategy Team by 2021
| Fostering SMEs in the System Semiconductor, AI, and Future Vehicle Sectors
| Expert mentors and companies design and support projects together

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 23rd that a Future Industry Strategy Team will be established within the ministry to intensively foster new industrial sectors such as system semiconductors, AI, and future cars.

The team will operate temporarily for two years until 2021.

The system semiconductor sector, which the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will focus on fostering, is a barren land with only 261 small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies, and is a sector lacking linkages between design (fabless), production (foundry), and demand companies.

The electric vehicle and future vehicle sectors are still in their early stages for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and as the ecosystem has not yet been established, related parts suppliers are on the verge of being eliminated.

In the AI sector as well, there is a slight gap compared to major developed countries, and government support is needed to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to secure industrial competitiveness by utilizing AI.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to strengthen on-site communication with small and medium-sized enterprises to foster new industries such as system semiconductors, AI, and future vehicles.

A team of 150 professional mentors will be formed to conduct ongoing consulting between mentors and companies.

And rather than the government-led functional support system (R&D, human resources, marketing, funding, etc.) where companies seek out and apply for government projects, The initiative will be implemented by changing the method so that small and medium-sized enterprises and a team of expert mentors identify 250 projects and design and support them together with the companies.

Kwon Dae-soo, Director General of Startup Promotion Policy, stated, “We will strive to ensure that small and medium-sized venture companies in new industrial sectors such as system semiconductors, AI, and future vehicles secure competitiveness and that a sound ecosystem is established.”