Minister Han Seong-sook of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 19th that the ministry "will spare no support so that regional small and midsize enterprises can see tangible results from the artificial intelligence transition (AX)."
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) held a vision proclamation ceremony for a regional AI grand transition to utilize and spread artificial intelligence (AI) among regional small and midsize enterprises at the Changwon Convention Center that day. More than 200 people attended, including Minister Han, Huh Sung-moo of the Democratic Party of Korea, and representatives of AI supply and demand corporations.
The event was held to help five local governments selected for the region-led AI grand transition project—Gyeongnam, Daegu, Ulsan, Jeonnam, and Jeju—and regional small and midsize enterprises quickly adopt and settle AI and build cooperation systems. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) is carrying out a region-led AI grand transition project to accelerate AI transition among regional small and midsize enterprises with low AI utilization rates.
At the proclamation ceremony, South Gyeongsang Province announced a plan for a "manufacturing-specialized AI grand transition" that applies AI to the region's key manufacturing sectors such as machinery, aviation, and energy. The idea is to raise the competitiveness of the regional industry overall. From August, after preliminaries and finals held by 13 regional offices, Minister's awards and others were also presented to the 10 selected AX and best practices in smart manufacturing.
Cho Hwan-soo, CEO of Cheonil Engineering Co., Ltd., which won the grand prize, presented results showing that introducing AI vision inspection for automobile parts quality inspection reduced the defect rate by 42.3% and increased productivity by 20.8%. Cho said, "I hope many small and midsize enterprises will benefit from AI adoption and utilization in improving productivity and sales."
SMHACCP, a food manufacturing–specialized AI technology company, won the top excellence award in the AI transition best practices contest. It was recognized for building a model in which AI precisely predicts drying times according to product characteristics and environmental changes.
A SMHACCP official noted that it was "an AI transition case that materially improved the operating system on the food manufacturing floor."
At the "Smart Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 Conference," the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) shared the "AI-based Smart Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 Strategy," which it is promoting jointly with related ministries. By presenting AX innovation cases and the latest technology trends, attendees shared the need for AI transition and strengthened the execution of future strategies. LG Production Engineering Research Institute, Naver Cloud, and MakinaRocks each shared their cases.
Minister Han also attended on-site roundtables. At the "Scale-up TIPS R&D operators' roundtable," participants discussed strategies for discovering and investing in promising regional small and midsize enterprises and public-private cooperation plans in line with the full-cycle growth support system that connects TIPS, Scale-up TIPS, and Global TIPS.
About 14.6% of Scale-up TIPS operators are regional venture capital (VC) firms. Through these operators, about 41% of investments targeting regional corporations are being made. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) plans to raise the selection ratio of regional corporations to at least 20% in the TIPS program and at least 50% in Scale-up TIPS.
At the "AI supply and demand corporations roundtable," participants discussed the status and challenges of AI adoption by small manufacturing corporations, the development of smart manufacturing specialist corporations, and directions for developing the regional AI ecosystem. They also explored policy support measures to create synergy between supply and demand corporations.
Minister Han said, "Thank you for the strong interest and participation of local governments and small and midsize enterprises in the AI transition," adding, "Going forward, we ask for continued cooperation from local governments to resolve imbalances and ensure the successful settlement of AX at regional small and midsize enterprises, as well as a shift in perception toward AX among small and midsize enterprises."