To achieve the Yoon administration's national agenda of "digital transformation of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies," the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will begin distributing and expanding smart factories (intelligent factories) in the second half of the year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it will be announcing the second half of the year's 'Smart Factory Distribution and Expansion Support Project' and accepting applications from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wishing to participate from Wednesday, June 29 to Thursday, July 28.

This announcement is a regular recruitment for the second half of the year, following the first half of last year. The recruitment targets two projects: the construction and advancement of smart factories and the K-Smart Lighthouse Factory Promotion Project.

First, 850 companies will be selected for 'smart factory construction and advancement' and a total of 70.2 billion won will be provided in support. To provide customized support for each company, the support amount is differentiated based on the level of smartening target: 50 million won for the basic level and 200 million won for advanced level 1.

Next, we will select four companies for the "K-Smart Lighthouse Factory" program, which supports the introduction of top-level smart factories utilizing AI, big data, and digital twins, and provide a total of KRW 1.6 billion in support, KRW 400 million per company.

'K-Smart Lighthouse Factory' refers to a leading smart factory centered on mid-sized companies, benchmarking the concept of a global lighthouse factory leading the global manufacturing industry, which is selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The "K-Smart Lighthouse Factory" program will be divided into two companies selected from core industries like automobiles and electronics, and two companies selected from other industries like food and pharmaceuticals. A notable feature is that each selected company will receive up to 1.2 billion won in support over the next three years.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Park Han-gu, head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Team, conducted by e4ds news in March, it was suggested that for smart manufacturing innovation in Korea, "For the next 50 years, it is important for Korea to focus on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and build a digital economic system centered on small and medium-sized enterprises that can grow into global companies."

It seems important to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing their current core competencies and identifying and addressing any gaps.

Lee Hyeon-jo, head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will focus its policy capabilities on the popularization and expansion of smart factories, as the digital transformation of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies is a national task."