"Up to 70% Government Support"... SEMS Recruiting Small Businesses for Smart Store Technology Dissemination Project

Divided into Purchase, Rental, and Software Types

The Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMS), in collaboration with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, announced on March 10 that it is recruiting small business owners to participate in the "2026 Smart Store Technology Deployment Project for Small Businesses," which aims to improve business efficiency and enhance digital competitiveness.

View of the Small Enterprise and Market Service in Yuseong District, Daejeon. SEMS

The Smart Store project for small businesses is designed to support the introduction of smart technologies such as barrier-free kiosks, serving robots, and digital signage into small business stores, in response to the growing trend of contactless and digital consumer environments. Up to 70% of technology adoption costs will be covered by the national budget. The support types are divided into purchase-based, rental-based, and software-based models depending on the method of technology adoption. However, for common technologies such as electronic whiteboards and digital signage, support is provided up to 50%, while for individual small business owners adopting management support software, 100% of the cost is fully covered.

For the purchase-based model, general technologies are supported up to a limit of 5 million won, while the cap for barrier-free unmanned information terminals has been increased to 7 million won to improve accessibility for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and people with disabilities. For the rental-based model, support is provided up to 3.5 million won per year (for a maximum of two years), and for the software-based model, up to 300,000 won per year (for a maximum of two years). Small business owners with disabilities, simplified taxpayers, and one-person entrepreneurs are priority beneficiaries, with the national subsidy ratio extended to 60-80% for these groups.

Applications can be submitted online through the Smart Store website from 10 a.m. on March 13 until 5 p.m. on April 1. Eligible applicants are small business owners as defined in Article 2 of the Small Enterprise Basic Act who are operating their stores normally as of the application date. Final beneficiaries will be selected after document review and written evaluation, followed by technology consulting, contract signing, and the technology deployment process. For more information about the project, inquiries can be made through the dedicated call center.

Chairman In Taeyeon stated, "We will strengthen support to ensure that the introduction of smart technologies leads to tangible business results for small business owners," adding, "We hope for active participation from small business owners who need digital transformation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.