The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, and the Ministry of Intellectual Property said they will promote a "pan-ministry integrated guidance on free technology transactions" from the 7th to Oct. 19 to encourage private use and commercialization of outstanding technologies held by public institutions and others.
Until now, free technology transaction programs have differed by ministry and program in application timing, required documents, and technical information, making it difficult for demand-side companies to find the technologies they need. In particular, related information has been scattered across individual program and institution websites, and critics have noted that small and midsize companies find it hard to systematically search for technologies they need.
Through this integrated guidance, corporations will be able to see at a glance the major free technology transaction programs promoted by each ministry and related technical information, regardless of which operating agency's website they visit. The plan is to improve information access for small and midsize companies in need of technology and to activate the transfer of outstanding technologies held by public institutions to the private sector.
Major programs include the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS)' technology transaction supporters and the private joint brokerage support program, the Ministry of Finance and Economy's unused patent sharing, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources' technology sharing. The integrated guidance covers a total of 3,563 technologies held by 63 public institutions, including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) and Korea KPS. The technologies will be promoted for transfer/sharing to domestic demand-side companies free of charge or for a small expense.
To revitalize the free technology transaction system, each ministry will integrate, manage, and link technology and patent information and expand incentives based on free technology transaction performance. They will also integrate and streamline application documents to improve convenience for demand-side companies, expand benefits for technology-supplying institutions to promote the transfer of public technologies to the private sector, and lead the expansion of the free technology transaction market and improved results in technology commercialization.
Hwang Young-ho, director general for Technology Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "Through this integrated guidance, small and midsize companies can now identify and understand at a glance the free technology transaction programs scattered across ministries," adding, "We will continue to explore measures to activate free technology transactions, in consultation with relevant ministries, so that excellent public technologies are delivered to small and midsize companies to create new business models and, further, to generate national technology commercialization outcomes."