Nurturing Hidden Champions

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Daejeon, South Korea, about an hour’s bullet train ride south of Seoul. (Photo by Yoshi Canopus via Wikimedia Commons)
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Daejeon, South Korea, about an hour’s bullet train ride south of Seoul. (Photo by Yoshi Canopus via Wikimedia Commons)

 

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) will initiate a project to nurture small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as global hidden champions. 

The project is aimed at creating jobs for 10,000 people by establishing 100 SMEs, including startups by researchers and research institutes, and providing support to 500 companies. The ultimate goal is to record a trillion won in sales by 2017 by helping each of the 500 companies turn over 2 billion won (US$1.9 million). 

ETRI awarded a Certificate in One-to-One Customized Technical Support to 141 medium companies and SMEs in the ICT sector at its research center in Daejeon City on Feb. 12, and decided to provide full support to designated companies over the next two years.

The research institute has provided technical support in 150 cases, after selecting 16 firms in the materials and components research field in July 2013. 

This year, ETRI intends to expand support in the software & content, convergence technology, broadcasting communication & media, and communication & Internet areas. It will choose an additional 141 firms that have difficulty in technology development and commercialization, and then dispatch its researchers to those selected companies to provide technical support for two years.

Kim Heung-nam, head of ETRI, said, “We will try hard to make global hidden champions through one-to-one customized technical support.”

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