The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 19th it is recruiting startups to participate in a public-private open innovation program focused on solving strategic challenges.
In this public-private open innovation program for solving strategic challenges, large corporations, mid-sized companies, or public institutions present innovation tasks, and the government consolidates startups capable of solving them to support collaboration.
Starting at the end of December last year, the reception and evaluation process for open innovation demand tasks was carried out, and 30 tasks from corporations and institutions including Kakao Mobility, LIG Nex1, and Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) were selected as candidates. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) plans to select around 30 final startups to carry out the tasks through this call.
For the selected startups, subsidies with a cap up to 140 million won, higher than the previous year, along with consulting and specialized training needed for collaboration, will be provided based on demand. Demand-side open innovation corporations may provide demonstration infrastructure, data, and experts for task execution. Outstanding collaborating startups will also receive linked support for follow-up research and development (R&D) and funds for commercializing the developed technology.
Startups wishing to participate can check the "public-private open innovation strategic challenge-solving" recruitment notice on the K-Startup website and apply from the 20th to Mar. 19.
In addition to this strategic challenge-solving track, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) also selected 30 programs under the "private screening and recommendation" type for open innovation support. Under this approach, large corporations (demand-side companies) or private professional institutions directly screen and recommend outstanding startups through their own open innovation programs, and the government supports the recommended startups with follow-up R&D and commercialization. Large companies with strong open innovation capabilities and track records, such as Hyundai Motor (ZER01NE) and Samsung Electronics, newly joined.
The "mutual autonomous search" type, which supports cases where collaboration partners are explored and consolidated through an open innovation brokerage platform, is also scheduled to be announced for recruitment after March.
Cho Kyung-won, entrepreneurship policy director at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "Through open innovation, large companies can strengthen competitiveness by introducing external innovative technologies early, and startups can supplement data and infrastructure to pioneer markets," adding, "MSS will serve as a 'collaboration for all' platform that seeks innovation together with large, mid-sized, and small companies and public institutions centered on startups."