MSS Shares Four Core AI Policies at APEC SME Ministerial Meeting

Presenting a Roadmap for SME and Venture Support

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) shared South Korea’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and venture business artificial intelligence (AI) policies at the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting.

On September 4 (local time), the MSS announced that Mok Seunghwan, Director General for Startup and Venture Innovation, participated in the 32nd APEC SME Ministerial Meeting held in Guangzhou, China, where he presented “AI Policies for Korean SMEs and Venture Businesses” to representatives from 20 member economies.

The APEC SME Ministerial Meeting is a forum where ministers responsible for SMEs from 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific region discuss key issues and cooperation strategies. The previous meeting was held in Jeju in September last year, and this year’s event took place in Guangzhou, China. Under the theme “Innovation Drives Development, Cooperation Creates Prosperity,” the meeting focused on three major agenda items: ▲innovation in science and technology ▲strengthening digital and intelligent capabilities ▲inclusive development.

During the session on strengthening digital and intelligent capabilities, Director Mok delivered a presentation on “AI Policies for Korean SMEs and Venture Businesses,” which aim to position Korea among the world’s top three AI powers. The four key policy components are: ▲manufacturing industry artificial intelligence transformation (AX) ▲local and small business AX ▲support for AI startups ▲expansion and widespread distribution of AI.

First, the “manufacturing AX” strategy drives the rollout of AI-powered smart factories and nurtures companies specializing in AI solution automation. The “local and small business AX” policy centers on large-scale regional AI transformation and AI education for small business owners. The “AI startup support” policy includes creating deep-tech AI funds and securing graphics processing units (GPUs) dedicated to SMEs. The “AI dissemination and expansion” policy focuses on building an integrated AI platform for SMEs and opening up public data.

Director Mok stated, “It was a meaningful opportunity to both discuss SME-related issues and introduce Korea’s SME and venture business AI policies at this year’s APEC SME Ministerial Meeting.” He added, “We plan to further deepen and advance these exchanges and discussions to continuously seek and promote avenues for mutual cooperation.”

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