A proposal said the AI transition of small and medium corporations should be pursued not by individual corporations but through cooperatives and industry-specific joint response systems. The government also reaffirmed its plan to expand support for AX (AI transformation) and DX (digital transformation) centered on manufacturing, microbusinesses and regional industries.
The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises , the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea SMEs & Startups Institute (KOSI) held the fourth Integrated Conference on SMEs and Startups Research on the 25th at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises in Yeouido, Seoul. This year's conference was held under the theme "Growth for all, innovation transition of K-SMEs and startups."
The conference consisted of three sessions: ▲ global growth and scale-up strategies ▲ collaboration ecosystems of SMEs and joint innovation strategies in the era of AI, AX and DX ▲ the digital economy and a fair ecosystem.
Jo Ju-hyeon, president of the Korea SMEs & Startups Institute (KOSI), said, "AI and digital technologies are rapidly changing industrial and economic orders." He added, "As innovation has become difficult to achieve through the efforts of individual corporations, the answer lies in consolidation and cooperation," noting, "The integrated conference is meaningful in that it discusses the future of SMEs and startups from the perspectives of AI innovation, a joint-innovation ecosystem and global growth strategies."
Park Jeong-yun, CEO of InterX, gave a special lecture on the theme "Manufacturing AX, core technologies for autonomous manufacturing and implementation cases," noting the importance of securing data. Park said, "We need a foundation for data utilization, skilled personnel, on-site validation and diffusion systems, and cooperation between the government and industry," and predicted, "Manufacturing SMEs will see differences in competitiveness depending on how quickly they secure specialized AI agents."
In the keynote presentation, Kim Hee-seon, a research fellow at the Korea SMEs & Startups Institute (KOSI), introduced cooperative-based DX and AX innovation cases in Trentino and Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. Trentino overcame regional limitations by integrating information and communication technology (ICT) on the back of 130 years of solidarity. Emilia-Romagna combines a cooperation network of SMEs centered on skilled labor with cutting-edge technological innovation, with the value of the cooperative economy driving about 30% of the region's gross domestic product (GDP).
Commissioner Kim said, "These regions treat cooperatives not as simple policy beneficiaries but as official partners from the policy design stage, so on-the-ground demand is being reflected nimbly." Kim added, "They provide opportunities for small cooperatives to embark on large-scale research and development, and manage so that the economic benefits generated by data are attributed to cooperative members and the local community," noting, "We should seek a public-interest utilization model that returns the data generated to cooperative members and the local community."
Go Su-jin, head of innovation policy at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises , presented "DX and AX support plans using industry-specific cooperatives." Go assessed that policies at the industry ecosystem level are more effective than one-off support centered on individual corporations. Go said a system should be established that consolidates everything from identifying AX demand through cooperatives to joint development and validation of AI models, diffusion of outcomes and follow-up management.
Noh Yong-seok, first vice minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said at the event, "SMEs and microbusinesses are struggling with AI transition due to a lack of AI utilization experience and infrastructure." Noh continued, "To solve the chronic workforce and productivity problems of SMEs, adopting AI is necessary," adding, "We will strengthen support focusing on four policy directions: a major AI transition for manufacturing SMEs, AI and digital transition for microbusinesses, fostering AI unicorns, and region-led major AI transitions."