The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will recruit participants for the Export Voucher program and the Global Small Giants 1000+ Project from the 17th through Jan. 9 to support domestic- and export-oriented small and medium-sized corporations in entering global markets.
According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) on the 14th, the export voucher is a program that supports small and medium-sized corporations in using marketing services needed for exports and overseas expansion, tailored to their export stage, in the form of a voucher.
Selected corporations can freely choose and use 15 service menu items, including market research and strategy development and branding, within the voucher amount composed of government support funds and corporate matching funds. About 2,000 corporations will be recruited in this first round. Depending on export scale, support will range from 30 million won to 100 million won.
Next year's export voucher budget is set at 150.2 billion won, up 22.6 billion won from this year. Considering the high uncertainty in the external environment, the announcement will be moved up and the project will be executed early.
A tariff response voucher will also be run. Corporations can use a tariff response package service, and an additional limit of up to 50 million won per corporation will be granted for total support of up to 150 million won.
To ease the burden of export logistics costs, the temporary measure applied this year to double the cap on international shipping support will be extended. The support cap, previously 30 million won, will be expanded to 60 million won. Comprehensive logistics agency services, which had been excluded from support, will also be newly included. For corporations using international shipping services, up to 70% will be additionally supported within a limit of 15 million won.
A system will also be established to increase voucher utilization among new participant corporations. By analyzing participating corporations' industries and voucher usage by export stage, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based customized design service will be developed and provided starting in the second half of next year. Settlement procedures for service providers will also be simplified, reducing simple and repetitive settlement tasks—such as platform subscription fees and online promotional costs—from the current four steps to three.
The Global Small Giants 1000+ Project selects corporations with high growth potential among small and medium-sized corporations with exports of $100,000 or more this year and gives preference in overseas expansion support and financial support such as policy funds. Corporations are designated in four stages based on export performance, and for the Global Small Giants and Global Small Giants+ stages, linked support with regional metropolitan governments is also provided.
Small and medium-sized corporations wishing to participate in both the Export Voucher program and the Global Small Giants 1000+ Project can apply through the Export Voucher website with a unified application. The Global Small Giants 1000+ Project can be applied for on the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) website.
Lee Sun-bae, director-general for global growth policy, said, "We will spare no effort to help small and medium-sized corporations maintain their competitiveness without being shaken by the external environment."