The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) said on the 4th they will accept applications on a rolling basis for corporations to join the "2026 business support group on-site clinic," which supports small corporations and small merchants in solving management and technology problems.
The on-site clinic is a program in which field-specific experts visit in person to diagnose complex difficulties that are hard to resolve through phone or counter consultations alone for corporations. The experts analyze the causes of the problems and present solutions tailored to the corporations' situations. The goal is to stabilize management and strengthen competitiveness for small corporations and prospective founders.
Starting this year, the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) is joining as an operating institution. Using about 190 million cases of corporations' data held by KOSME and Korea Evaluation Data, among others, it will prepare an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic report and combine it with experts' field experience to provide customized advice.
The implementing institutions were split between the Korea Management Consultants Association and the Korea Productivity Center. The plan is to broaden the pool of expert personnel to connect the most suitable experts for the problems corporations face and to leverage each institution's expertise to improve service quality.
Liten Korea, a corporation developing automation equipment for livestock, used the on-site clinic last year to establish a technology protection system and procedures for operating a corporations-affiliated research institute focused on research and development (R&D). It also received advice on venture corporation certification, securing intellectual property rights for core technologies, and drawing up business plans.
Based on that, Liten Korea completed filing for its core patent in Sep. last year and finished the on-site evaluation for certification as an innovation-driven venture corporation. It also laid the groundwork to pursue government R&D project awards and technology commercialization.
The on-site clinic supports small corporations and prospective founders under the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises. The government covers 80% of the 350,000 won consulting fee. Support areas include ▲ startups ▲ finance and funding ▲ accounting and tax ▲ technology ▲ production management ▲ imports and exports ▲ legal affairs ▲ human resources and labor ▲ management strategy ▲ informatization ▲ marketing and design ▲ patents.
Corporations wishing to apply for the on-site clinic can do so through call center consultations or on the business support group's official website. They can also visit the nearest regional office of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to receive expert recommendations and matching from a consulting committee member.
Ban Jeong-sik, regional innovation director at the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), said, "Even in the same industry, the factors troubling each corporation differ, so there is no set answer," and added, "The strength of the on-site clinic is checking the corporation's circumstances directly in the field and prescribing what fits."