The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises and Samsung Electronics said on the 10th that they, together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, are recruiting corporations to participate in the "2026 smart factory support project for food manufacturing."
KBIZ and Samsung Electronics have supported manufacturing innovation at small and medium-sized corporations through the smart factory support project, cited as a model of cooperation between large and small corporations. This year, the project will target small and mid-sized corporations in the food manufacturing sector.
This year's project totals 3.9 billion won. Thirty food manufacturing corporations will be selected to receive support for building smart factories. Support is divided into "basic" and "advanced" stages, depending on the build level. Fifteen corporations will be selected for each stage, with up to 200 million won per corporation for the advanced stage (within 50% of total project cost) and up to 60 million won for the basic stage (within 60% of total project cost).
Support areas include building operating systems such as manufacturing execution system (MES) and enterprise resource planning (ERP), as well as introducing automation equipment. Innovative tasks applicable to food manufacturing sites, such as ultra-precision molds and process simulation, are also eligible.
Applications run from the 18th to June 12. After on-site due diligence and review by the selection evaluation committee, the final recipient corporations will be chosen. Applications can be submitted online according to the recruitment notice on the KBIZ website.
KBIZ will also hold a project briefing session at 2 p.m. on the 11th in connection with the 38th Small and Medium Business Week event. Held under the theme "Finding answers at the AI-evolving K-Food smart factory," the session will provide guidance on the project announcement and how to write the project plan. Seoul National University Foodtech Department Professor Lee Gi-won will give a special lecture on "K-Food smart manufacturing innovation through AI."
It will share smart factory case studies from the sweet potato stick manufacturer Hanul Agricultural Corporation and the seaweed specialist Haedamsol, and explain how to calculate project costs, including software development expenses. In addition, 1:1 customized consulting will be provided for corporations that pre-register. Through financial and management consulting from IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and technical consulting on MES and ERP solutions, the program will help corporations prepare to participate.