Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Deploy 6,000 New Smart Factories This Year
Support for collaborative robots, AI platforms, and cloud solutions


On the 22nd, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups issued an integrated notice to recruit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and middle-sized companies wishing to participate in the '2021 Smart Factory Dissemination Support Project,' which will invest a total of 437.6 billion won.

The project consists of a total of seven sub-projects, including smart factory construction and advancement (400.2 billion won), robot-based manufacturing innovation (18.1 billion won), Smart Meister (7 billion won), smart factory post-management (4.4 billion won), smartification capability enhancement (3.3 billion won), cloud-based solution development (3.2 billion won), and smart factory level verification (1.4 billion won).

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups aims to deploy 30,000 smart factories by 2022. Due to a surge in demand resulting from the proven effectiveness of smart factories and the acceleration of digital transformation in the manufacturing sector, 19,799 smart factories were deployed by the end of last year, exceeding the initial target (17,800).

Kim Il-ho, Head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “Building on the achievements in expanding the foundation of smart manufacturing so far, we plan to focus on transitioning from a focus on quantitative dissemination to qualitative advancement based on AI and data this year.”

◇ Deploy 6,000 smart factories by 2021

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to invest 400.2 billion won this year to deploy more than 6,000 (3,300 government-funded, 2,700 private-sector) smart factories. Starting this year, the support system for the dissemination project will be reorganized into a differentiated support system based on the level of smartification improvement. For companies with a demand for advanced technology, government support will be increased from 150 million won to 240 million won to promote qualitative advancement.

The dissemination of cloud-based smart factories linked to the AI manufacturing platform (KAMP) will also be promoted. To this end, cloud usage fees will be supported for three years (five years for small businesses), and support for conversion costs (up to 0.7 billion KRW) linked to the dissemination project has been newly established for cases where existing internal solutions are converted to a cloud-based system (KAMP integration).

For manufacturers of products related to the COVID-19 response, a maximum bonus point of 5 points will be newly established during the selection process to ensure they receive priority support. A 'General Digital Cluster' project was also added, led by ventures and startups, to interconnect smart factories through a network to create various joint activities and collaborative business models (BMs).

The coordinator support system, which provides close 1:1 support from smart technology specialists, is being expanded from existing advanced companies to basic-level companies lacking manpower and funds.

Meanwhile, the application method for the project has been changed from the existing continuous application system to a regular recruitment system held three times (February, April, and June). The application period for the first round is from January 22 to February 25, the second from April 1 to April 30, and the third from June 1 to June 30.

◇ Support for process innovation using robots

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and middle-sized companies looking to improve their processes using collaborative robots can apply for the 'Robot-based Manufacturing Innovation Support' program. This year, 18.1 billion won has been allocated, a significant increase from last year (8.5 billion won), with plans to support approximately 57 companies.

Support is limited to 300 million won per company (within 50% of the total project cost), and companies wishing to adopt the system should form a consortium with a robot supplier to apply. In particular, for companies returning to Korea, the support limit has been raised (from 300 million to 500 million won) to alleviate the burden of initial investment in production facilities and support productivity improvement based on automation.

Likewise, for the establishment and advancement of smart factories, companies returning to Korea receive up to an additional 50% of government subsidies.

Smart Meister support will be provided to a total of 800 companies (totaling 7 billion won) to help resolve on-site difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises regarding the introduction and operation of smart factories. Smart Meisters (500 people) are smart factory field experts who have worked at manufacturing sites of large corporations or possess equivalent experience and degrees.

Selected companies can receive dispatched Smart Meisters for about three months to immediately resolve on-site difficulties related to smart factories and receive manufacturing techniques at the level of large corporations.

Focusing on small businesses lacking funds and manpower, the program covers 50% of after-sales service costs, including repairs for smart factory breakdowns and defects, solution upgrades, and replacement of core components. The total support scale is 4.4 billion won, and this is a new support program established this year to generate continuous results through customized follow-up management.

Support will be provided to approximately 630 small businesses that have established smart factories for more than one year, with limits of 5 million won (emergency recovery type) and 20 million won (growth-linked type) per company.

◇ Provision of consulting, Meister services, and cloud services to strengthen smartification capabilities

We plan to allocate a budget of 3.3 billion won to the 'Strengthening Smartization Capabilities' project to support approximately 860 companies in total, enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to receive specialized consulting related to smart factories.

Selected companies can receive consultation from professional consulting agencies regarding the establishment of smart factory construction strategies and operations. Support is provided according to corporate needs, categorized into basic consulting (5 days), advanced consulting (10 days), and one-point mentoring.

We plan to support the development of cloud-based shared solutions (5 projects, up to 140 million won per project) and infrastructure (management innovation platform) (3.2 billion won) for associations, organizations, or small and medium-sized enterprises.

A shared solution refers to the development of business software that can be jointly utilized by multiple small and medium-sized enterprises on the cloud, such as for customer management and distribution management.

An association or organization with small and medium-sized enterprises as members, or a consortium of multiple small and medium-sized enterprises (4 or more) and an IT company (1) with cloud-based solution development capabilities, can apply.

The full cost of verifying the smart factory level (800,000 won per company, 1,190 companies) will be supported for private companies that have independently built smart factories or for companies participating in the project that have advanced their smart factories without government support.

Applicant companies can receive guidelines for smart factory advancement along with verification of their smartification level. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have adopted smart factories (companies with verified levels) can receive preferential benefits when supplying goods to public institutions or applying for policy funds.

The integrated announcement and specific details for each support program can be found on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website or on the Smart Factory Project Management System of the Korea Technology Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Team), the agency responsible for the project. Applications can be submitted online through the same website.