The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 5th that it has created a new "follow-up support for performance corporations" program to help startups participating in the open innovation project verify market value and commercialize, and is recruiting participating corporations.
Open innovation refers to an open innovation method that develops new products or services by using external technologies and resources. Market value verification goes beyond proof of concept, which checks the feasibility of technology implementation, to verify the value that a technology or solution can create in a business environment.
This program was prepared to reflect on-the-ground opinions that follow-up support should be strengthened so that collaboration outcomes from existing programs such as "public-private partnership open innovation" and the "deep tech value-up program" can lead to commercialization, such as attracting investment and signing purchase contracts. Selected corporations will be provided with funds needed for market verification and commercialization, along with customized programs for each corporation.
Eligible applicants are startups among corporations that participated in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) open innovation project that received a certain level or higher in the final evaluation or secured a letter of intent for collaboration from demand corporations. The recruitment period for participating corporations is from the 6th to the 26th.
Support types are divided into "high-performance type" and "follow-up collaboration type." The high-performance type targets corporations that received an excellent or best grade in the final evaluation of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) open innovation project. It supports matching and collaboration between startups and demand corporations.
The follow-up collaboration type provides follow-up collaboration funds needed for commercialization, such as market verification, to startups that wish to continue follow-up collaboration with existing demand corporations after the open innovation project ends.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) plans to select about 80 startups through this call and support up to 2 billion won in commercialization funds per corporation.
Cho Kyung-won, entrepreneurship policy director at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "We will support follow-up demonstrations and commercialization so that startups with verified performance and demand corporations can continue their collaboration and innovative technologies can take hold in the market."