The Ministry of SMEs and Startups(MSS) of ROK, which was launched to promote SMEs and startups for inclusive economic growth, celebrated the first anniversary of its birth on July 26th, 2018.
After its establishment, MSS formulated and unveiled 904 tasks of 64 policies during the last year on following aspects:
● MSS eradicated wrong practices in cooperation between large and small companies such as technology theft and steep reduction in prices through legal protection. It actively supported voluntary cooperation between large and small companies, and induced voluntary expansion of win-win cooperation. The measures to eradicate technology theft include repaying damages caused by technology theft up to 10 times and putting proving responsibility on suspected companies. It also made it legal for SMEs to ask for increase in prices in case when labor costs increase due in part to a hike in minimum wages. Furthermore, when large companies help SMEs adopt smart factories, the government provide matching assistance.
● MSS provides radical assistance to young employees in SMEs, and provides young workers for SMEs and decent SME jobs for young workers. For new employees, MSS supports wages, tax reduction, down payment in rent and transportation costs to match the wage level of large enterprises. For current workers of SMEs, it reduces 90% of income tax and transportation costs, which result in income increase worth of 4.6 million won annually. For SMEs which employ young workers, it provides radical support in taxation and budget, which result in up to 25 million won per person.
● MSS revamped the approaches of its startup ecosystem to be driven by the private sector and supported by the government. In operating the fund of funds, MSS changed its direction so that the private sector makes the proposal and the government makes the following investment. It increased the dynamism and creativity of the market by enabling the private sector to pick beneficiary companies so that the government can provide the following support.