Government to support 19.4 billion won in R&D for future promising areas such as secondary batteries and hi-tech robots

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on August 4 that it has selected 154 future promising fields such as secondary batteries, advanced robots, and future cars, which the ministry will support through the Small and Medium Enterprise Technology Innovation Development Project.

The Small and Medium Business Technology Innovation Development Project aims to support SMEs with excellent technology and with sales of more than 2 billion won that will lead to the fourth industrial revolution and digital conversion era.

A total of 1,548 projects were applied for two weeks from April 11 to 25, and among the high competition rates of 10:1, the final 154 projects (a total of 19.4 billion won) were selected by applying a non-face-to-face evaluation method for quick selection.

The selected tasks will be supported by 5 ~ 600 million won for a maximum of two years.

The major selection results by sector are as follows.

First, in the secondary battery field, a total of eight tasks were selected for manufacturing equipment such as charging and discharging equipment for the activation process, precision laser processing for material processing, roll-to-roll equipment for thin film surface treatment, recycling technology for waste battery material, synthesis technology for electrolyte additive, and process development related to material and process development such as high purity anode stabilizer process technology.

In the field of hi-tech robots, seven tasks were selected for the development of service robots as manufacturing high-tech robots such as cooperative robots for manufacturing workers, mobile robots for pipeline safety inspections, multifunctional complex logistics management robots, and AI-based mobile robots to advance the robot industry and secure advanced manufacturing technology.

Moreover, seven tasks related to supply and infrastructure such as sensor-related tasks such as inverter current sensor for electric vehicles, radar sensor post maintenance technology, axial voltage reduction device for electric vehicle motor, and multifunctional residential electric vehicle charger was selected.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to quickly support research expenses for the project by signing an agreement in August for the selected tasks. The basic guidelines for the project implementation such as R & D implementation plan, research budget allocation, and execution will be delivered as well.

“We will continue to support small and medium-sized venture companies in Korea to have unique technological competitiveness in the global market,” said Yoon Seok-bae, director of technology development at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. “We will also actively explore and nurture small and medium-sized venture companies with potential in future promising industries.”

Reported by Smart City Today