South Korea's government said Sunday that it picked 30 leading small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for research support as part of its plan to build up 300 globally competitive local businesses by 2020.

   The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the companies selected could receive up to 10 billion won (US$9.2 million) worth of research and development (R&D) funding from state-run organizations like the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the Korea Research Council for Industrial Science and Technology, and the Export-Import Bank of Korea for five years.

   The "World Class 300" plan calls for Seoul to pick 300 SMEs that have growth potential and the capability to compete with foreign rivals. The project will pick companies starting this year with the last to be selected for support in 2016.

   Besides R&D, support will be provided to allow these companies to gain overseas market access and make it easier to receive funding.

   "The companies were picked because they already spent large proportions of their earnings on R&D and maintained corporate strategies aimed at expanding into foreign markets," the ministry in charge of the country's industrial policy setting said.

   It said that while only 30 companies, such as Jusung Engineering, Amotech Corp., Sangsin Brake, Iljin Materials and KEB Technology Co. were picked, over 148 applied for support.

   These companies had average annual sales reaching 183.6 billion won and engaged in such business areas as semiconductor manufacturing, auto parts, displays.

Source: Yonhap News (May 22, 2011)