The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 27th that it had selected 17 projects for next year's "si/gun/gu hometown industry development collaboration project" to respond to the risk of regional extinction and reinvigorate local economies.
This program was designed so that the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries link their policy tools together. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) is in charge of technology development and commercialization support. Related ministries will jointly promote policies that support improvements to living conditions and settling in the region, including foreign workforce supply, use of the local extinction response fund, tourism promotion projects, rural compacts, and the Fishing Village New Deal.
This year, the region-specialized skilled workforce visa (E-7-4R) and the regional travel subsidy program were newly included as linkage tools. The industrial development policy and the settlement and tourism policies are expected to be organically combined. In addition, experts recommended by each ministry joined the joint evaluation to focus on reviewing the potential for inter-project linkage and the expected effects.
Among the selected projects are many that use local resources to enhance the competitiveness of the food, bio, and tourism industries, or that strengthen industrial competitiveness through the digital transformation of manufacturing and innovation in production processes.
Busan's Dong District and Geumjeong District plan to advance the industry and revitalize the region by integrating advanced technology into apparel manufacturing. Naju, South Jeolla Province, will work to build a food upcycling ecosystem using agricultural byproducts. Food upcycling refers to activities that increase added value by reprocessing food byproducts or low-value agricultural products into new foods or materials.
These projects focus on boosting the competitiveness and added value of local industries by going beyond support for corporations to combine design and branding, experiential tourism, digital transformation, and professional workforce development.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) will support consulting to advance the projects and, after a joint final evaluation with related ministries, plans to make the final selection in Dec. this year of the basic local governments to be supported in 2027.