The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) said on the 4th it will build an artificial intelligence (AI)-based "integrated support platform for small and medium-sized corporations" that makes it easy to look up SME support information and handle various administrative applications. As a result, documents submitted by corporations are expected to be reduced from an average of 9 to 4.4.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will integrate the currently dual support program information channels, "Gieopmadang" and "SME Venture 24," into "Gieopmadang" (tentative name). It plans to provide in one place more than 2,700 central and local government support program notices and to integrate the issuance of 21 types of confirmations and certificates.
With just a login to the integrated support platform for small and medium-sized corporations, applicants will be able to apply for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS)'s 37 application channels as well as support programs run by other ministries. The currently operating Gieopmadang only allows checking policy information and notices, and SME Venture 24 only allows applications and submissions for support programs. The aim is to resolve the inconvenience caused by the functional split.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will also recommend customized support programs based on AI. AI will learn a corporation's industry, region, and benefit history and automatically recommend optimized support programs for each corporation. It will also strengthen specialized information support by providing export corporations with export country and tariff information and small business owners with commercial district analysis information.
The required documents for various program applications will also be reduced. Currently, corporations must directly submit an average of nine documents when applying for support programs, but the plan is to cut that by more than half to 4.4. In addition, documents issued by administrative agencies, such as business registration certificates and financial statements, will be obtained by the support agencies themselves through linkage with systems such as the Joint Use of Administrative Information, and the linkage rate will be increased from 43% to 96% by next year.
By entering only a business registration number and keywords, an AI-enabled function will also provide a draft customized business plan by learning corporation information and exemplary proposals. The aim is to reduce the burden on applicants when preparing documents. In addition, to address the problem of illegal brokers, 13 regional Small and Medium Business Administration offices and seven affiliated public institutions will operate channels to prevent and report improper third-party involvement, and AI will be used to detect business plans written by brokers on behalf of applicants.
It will also overcome the limits of evaluators' expertise. It will expand open innovation programs, such as the public-private cooperative startup support program TIPS and the model in which venture capital (VC) makes prior investments and recommendations, as well as programs in which global large corporations directly select partner Start - Up companies.
It will apply the open technology evaluation platform "K-TOP," trained on technology evaluation big data, to evaluations of support programs for innovative corporations, and will also link it to bank loan screenings to establish a one-stop technology finance system.
Minister Han said, "Now the public sector must also achieve service innovation," adding, "We will do our best to improve the SME support system into a people-centered approach that is intuitive, familiar, and easy to use."