SMBA set to spend W1tr to help youth  start new businesses


The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said it plans to create 30,000 new jobs for young people next year by hiring more for research and development, and kick-start a project to foster 3,000 small and medium-sized companies that hire 1.2 million people by 2015.

The ministry will also spend 1.7 trillion won next year alone to stabilize the power supply and have the Korea Electric Power Corporation replace obsolete equipment, according to an annual policy plan report Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo made to President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday.

The ministry’s R&D budget for next year amounts to around 4.5 trillion won ($3.88 billion), or about 30 percent of the nation’s entire R&D budget. Twenty-six percent of its R&D money will go to small and medium-sized companies, 12 percent to large businesses and the rest to state-funded research institutes.

The ministry said in the report that it will spend 40 percent of the budget, up from the current 30 percent, to hire 20,000 people next year.

It also plans to have 60 public institutions under the ministry including KEPCO recruit 3,500 people, and Korea Post and the Korea Intellectual Property Office another 500.

Through the ministry’s project to foster 300 small and medium-sized firms into world-class companies, 2,000 jobs will be created and another 4,500 through internships for vocational high school students and scholarships for science majors in universities.

Companies with annual sales of below 1 trillion won that spend more than 2 percent of their sales in R&D and sales growth of more than 15 percent will be given the special government assistance.

Under the ministry’s plan, Korea will develop 20 percent of the petroleum and gas it consumes, up from 14 percent this year, and 32 percent of the six major minerals ― soft coal, uranium, iron, copper, zinc and nickel ― up from 29 percent.

The ministry is also set to increase the number of gas stations that sell gasoline at low prices to 700 and push for a measure that bans those caught for selling fake gasoline from doing business for two years.

The ministry is scheduled to complete the construction of four industrial complexes in Yangju, Icheon, Gimhae and Wonju next year and expand incentives for companies that return to investing in Korea after going overseas.

The Small and Medium Business Administration plans to invest 1 trillion won to help the youth start new businesses next year.

The Fair Trade Commission said in its annual policy report that it will step up efforts to induce large conglomerates to open more business opportunities for non-related small firms, make a Korean version of consumer report online and a system that discloses information about Internet shopping malls.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)