The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 18th it will announce the "2026 public-private joint technology commercialization research and development (R&D) second implementation plan" to support technology commercialization by small and medium-sized enterprises.
The public-private joint technology commercialization R&D is a program that supports everything from technology planning to market entry through public-private cooperation, and it was newly established to narrow the technology readiness level (TRL) gap between suppliers and demanders.
The newly announced "TRL Jump-up (Phase 1)" is a joint industry-academia-research R&D program that raises high-difficulty, laboratory-stage technologies in strategic technology fields to a level where they can be commercialized. It focuses on supporting the initial verification and setting the development direction needed after public technology transfer.
Eligible applicants are corporations that, under Article 2 of the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises, have received a public technology transfer and seek to promote follow-up commercialization technology development. It will be operated as a designated call.
In the first half of this year (second round), a total of 10 billion won will be provided for 100 projects, with 100 million won per project. It will support promising public technologies stuck at the laboratory stage to be concretized into corporations' commercialization projects and to ensure that the initial verification and development direction setting needed after public technology transfer are carried out systematically.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) also identified 138 designated requests for proposals (RFPs), focusing on 12 national strategic technology fields including semiconductors, displays, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
TRL Jump-up will be operated in stages. This year, Phase 1 (PoC·PoM) will be supported, and outstanding projects among those that complete Phase 1 will be selected and linked to next year's Phase 2 commercialization R&D.
Corporations wishing to participate in the public-private joint technology commercialization R&D "TRL Jump-up" can apply online on the integrated government research support system website from Apr. 7 to 20. Detailed announcement information and application procedures can be found on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) or Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) websites.
Hwang Young-ho, director general for technology innovation policy, said, "This TRL Jump-up announcement is a starting point to concretize promising public technologies stuck at the laboratory stage into corporations' commercialization projects," adding, "Through industry-academia-research collaboration, we will raise technology readiness levels and accelerate the commercialization of promising public technologies to improve small and medium-sized enterprises' technology commercialization outcomes."