According to Yonhap News,

The government will invest KRW 1.0445 trillion in the "Regional Innovation Leading Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Fostering Project."

On January 24th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the "2025 1st National Research and Development (R&D) Project uation Steering Committee" chaired by Ryu Kwang-jun, Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, and confirmed the final project scale of the Regional Innovation Leading SMEs Fostering Project by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, which was exempted from the preliminary feasibility study.

This project is a regional SME R&D initiative following the Regional Specialized Industry Development and the Regional Specialized Industry + projects, with a budget allocated for five years through 2029.

The Ministry of Science and ICT explained that the project will reorganize the classification system for key regional industries to align with national strategic technologies, introduce a competitive system among regions, and implement differentiated support for excellent companies and projects, thus advancing the project structure.

According to the results of the adequacy review, 111 projects in the regional key industry ecosystem building and regional capacity enhancement categories will be announced starting from January 31st, followed by the selection of companies.

On this day, the committee selected the "CCU Mega Project" for a preliminary feasibility study. This project will demonstrate carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies in greenhouse gas-emitting industries. It will support the construction of large-scale demonstration facilities and product development at five industrial demonstration sites.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has requested a total of KRW 1.1392 trillion, including KRW 739.6 billion from the national budget, KRW 12 billion from local governments, and KRW 387.5 billion from private investment, for the project over the next five years, starting in 2026.

shjo@yna.co.kr

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Source: Yonhap News (January 24, 2024)

** This article was translated from Korean.