The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Park Sang-jin), under the Ministry of Science and ICT, has expanded its technology support program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing difficulties in technology development due to COVID-19 and is working to overcome the crisis.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials is promoting various customized projects to support the technological development of small and medium-sized enterprises, such as the 'KIMM Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Customized Technology Support Project' and the 'ACE Project.' Recently, the company has been attracting attention by expanding its technology support beyond the manufacturing industry, which was the main target of its technology support, to companies in various fields, including livestock and bio.

Dr. Lee Ki-cheon's team at the Reliability Assessment Laboratory of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, with support from the ACE project and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, developed an eco-friendly, rapid treatment technology for high-liquid separation of dairy cow manure, which has been causing complaints from most dairy farms about livestock manure composting and odor, and transferred the technology to Doori Livestock Tech Co., Ltd.

The solid-liquid separator, which can dehydrate and discharge the solid content of livestock manure at a constant rate (50-60%), has been developed through simulation, basic experiments, design and manufacturing, and long-term field durability evaluation to be the first in the world to directly separate high-fiber dairy cow manure without pretreatment.

Dairy cow and Korean cattle manure is recycled as compost and sawdust substitutes after being dehydrated and dried, but it contains a lot of fiber, which causes filter failure and shortens the lifespan.

The developed screw-type solid-liquid separation system includes a moisture content control and foreign substance removal device, solving the problems of high moisture content, filter clogging, and foreign substance blockage that were the biggest obstacles to composting and recycling livestock manure in livestock farms, and securing reliability in durability.

The research team installed the developed equipment at a dairy farm in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, and operated it for 1 year and 4 months (16 months). They confirmed that it reduced the stress on dairy farm managers from handling dairy cow manure, improved the environment by reducing odor and gas emissions from the farm, and increased the utilization rate of sawdust substitutes.

Jang Seong-hwan, a senior researcher at the Nano Process Equipment Laboratory at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, provided support for drug delivery and medical microneedle manufacturing technologies to domestic companies struggling due to export restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has been developing skin care products using microneedles. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has been expanding its business scope to include drug delivery and healthcare to strengthen its competitiveness in the global corporate market.

The research team, leveraging its expertise in microneedle structure and mold design, supported the design of microneedle designs measuring 500 to 1,000 μm in height for use in the medical field. Building on this foundation, the company plans to secure technologies that can create new markets and explore growth opportunities alongside market recovery following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kim Kyung-dong, CEO of TerraJect Asia, which received technical support, said, “When overseas supply contracts were put on hold due to COVID-19 and sales significantly decreased, we received technical support,” and “We found an opportunity to overcome difficult situations and create hope for the future by receiving technical support for entering new markets.”

Park Sang-jin, president of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, said, “We will spare no effort in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling due to the spread of COVID-19 so that they can experience the effectiveness of technology and challenge new markets.” He added, “We will proactively support companies in various ways, tailored to their needs, from identifying challenging technologies to commercializing them.”

Meanwhile, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) launched the "COVID-Tailored SME Technology Support Project," utilizing funds saved from travel expenses and other expenses from the R&D reserve fund earmarked for employee training in 2020. Initially, the plan was to support six companies with 200 million won, but after receiving over 50 applications, the budget was expanded to support a total of 10 companies.