Various exhibitions and conferences will be held to showcase products and technologies from small and medium-sized enterprises.
332 booths operated under 7 themes, including technological innovation, technical talent, technology protection, and industry-academia-research cooperation.

A venue has been created where small and medium-sized enterprises can showcase technologies and products they have developed and exchange information.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the '2017 SME Technology Innovation Fair' from the 14th to the 16th at Samsung COEX Hall A to foster SMEs with the technological capabilities to become the leading players in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The event, now in its 18th year, will feature a variety of exhibitions and conferences, including the 4th Industrial Revolution Forum, a Korea-Iran Cooperation Business Matching Conference, a Technology/Skills Talent Competition, and a SME Investment Briefing, all under the slogan, "Innovative Technology Opening the 4th Industrial Revolution, Technology Talent Leading the Future."

At the opening ceremony, 191 awards were presented to those who contributed to technological innovation, including the Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit to CEO Yoo Wan-sik of Semix and the Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit to CEO Ryu Chang-yeol of Yooseong Chemical.

At the Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum held on the first day, Professor Ji-Hoon Jeong of Kyung Hee Cyber University, a speaker, introduced technologies that will shift the paradigm of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. "Gartner's 10 technologies can be categorized into intelligent, digital, and mesh. These 10 technologies are interconnected," he said. "Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can implement technologies that fall into the intelligent and digital categories." He cited SoftBank and Amazon as examples to explain how SMEs should view technology.

“Pepper’s first target was the elderly,” he said. However, the actual demand came from SoftBank mobile phone stores,” he said. “As demand arose in the B2B market, we expanded distribution by adding menus to meet the changing needs of customers.”

"Amazon Echo first established customer needs and then determined hardware specifications. Now, instead of defining hardware specifications, developing software, and deciding which market to target, we need to do the opposite," he said, pointing out that technology and products aren't everything.

In addition to the conference, which can be a strategic resource for SMEs, the exhibition hall features 332 booths organized into seven themes: SME technological innovation, technical talent, technology protection, and industry-academia collaboration. The Technology Experience Center, in particular, will showcase "smart factories," a key element of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, through virtual reality (VR) and real-world robots.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, “In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, small and medium-sized enterprises with technological competitiveness must become the main drivers of innovation,” and added, “We plan to create an innovation ecosystem for small and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies to revitalize innovative startups by excellent technical personnel, and establish an institutional foundation such as doubling the government’s R&D budget by 2022, abolishing regulations related to technological startups, protecting technology, and promoting coexistence between large and small enterprises.”