Data Utilization: Competitiveness in the Data Economy
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Intelligence Service (NIA) are partnering with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and data companies.


On the 8th, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) held the '2020 Small and Medium Enterprise Big Data Analysis and Utilization Support Project Launch Report' at the HJ Business Center in Gwanghwamun to support small and medium enterprises' big data analysis and utilization.

This launch briefing session presented the implementation plan for the small and medium-sized enterprise big data analysis and utilization support project targeting the Busan and Incheon regions, and discussed the main goals and performance creation plans for each project.

In the era of the data economy, where data drives innovation across both public and private sectors, there's growing interest in leveraging data to enhance the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, due to relatively poor internal conditions, SMEs in Korea have few successful examples of data utilization, and the gap in big data utilization between large companies is widening.

In February of last year, the NIA cited lack of internal capabilities and costs as the key factors hindering the adoption of big data technology by small and medium-sized enterprises. In March of this year, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the results of a survey showing that the adoption rate of big data technology among companies with sales of over 100 billion won (32.3%) was more than six times higher than the adoption rate among companies with sales of less than 100 billion won (5.1%).

The purpose of the SME Big Data Analysis and Utilization Support Project is to connect SMEs with data specialists and to support them in introducing data analysis results into their businesses, thereby generating increased sales through new product development and process improvement.

To promote the use of big data by local SMEs and foster a regional data business ecosystem, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) will select Busan (Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency Consortium) and Incheon (Incheon Technopark Consortium) through a competitive investment competition. They will support the discovery of SME big data use cases tailored to the region's unique characteristics. Data specialist companies will be recruited in July.