[Korea Federation of SMEs]
[Korea Federation of SMEs]

Korea Federation of SMEs, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, KOSBI hold 4th integrated SME research conference

Northern Italy cooperative model cited as blueprint; calls grow for sector-wide shared AI transformation

Ministry of SMEs and Startups pledges expanded support for AI transition in manufacturing SMEs, digital shift for small businesses

As AI and digital transformation emerge as defining factors in industrial competition, experts are calling for small and medium-sized enterprises to pursue innovation not as individual companies but through shared ecosystems — bringing together industry-specific cooperatives, universities, research institutes and government. SMEs lag behind large conglomerates in data, talent and investment capacity, and need a collaborative structure linking common demand identification, joint development, pilot testing and broader rollout to make AI and digital transformation viable.

The Korea Federation of SMEs, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Korea Small Business Institute held the 4th Integrated SME and Venture Business Research Conference on Thursday at the Korea Federation of SMEs building in Yeouido, Seoul. This year's conference carried the theme "Growth for All: Innovation Transformation of K-SMEs and Venture Businesses."

Eight academic societies co-organized the event, including the Korean Academy of Entrepreneurship, the Korean Association for Small Business and Venture Policy, the Korean Academic Society of Business Administration in Law, the Korean Association for Regulatory Studies, the Korean Distribution Association, the Korean Association for Policy Studies, the Korean Academy of Small Business Studies and the Korean Entrepreneurship Society. The conference was designed to connect industry, academia and policy to discuss future growth strategies and policy priorities for SMEs and venture businesses.

The conference was organized into three sessions covering global growth and scale-up strategies; collaborative ecosystems and joint innovation strategies for SMEs in the AI and digital transformation era; and the digital economy and fair ecosystem. Topics on the agenda included K-culture, open innovation, global scale-up, innovation financing, SME retail ecosystem reform, AI regulation reform, and AI transformation in manufacturing and retail.

The main second session opened with remarks by Korea Small Business Institute President Cho Ju-hyun, a welcome address by Oh Ki-ung, standing vice president of the Korea Federation of SMEs, and congratulatory remarks by Noh Yong-seok, first vice minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, followed by a special lecture, thematic presentations and a roundtable among society presidents.

In his welcome address, Oh said, "Competitiveness in the AI era hinges on data accumulation, which makes a cooperative-led joint response — drawing on existing know-how in shared business operations — essential." He added that "just as Italy turned crisis into opportunity through a robust collaborative network, academia, government and SMEs must join forces to build a successful shared AI transformation ecosystem so that our small businesses can seize new growth opportunities."

Korea Small Business Institute President Cho said the conference was organized "to broadly discuss the challenges SMEs and venture businesses face in making the innovation transition at a time when AI and digital technology are rapidly reshaping industrial structures and the way companies grow." He said he hoped the discussions on AI innovation, shared innovation ecosystems and global growth would help uncover new business opportunities, and that cooperation among companies and linkages across sectors and regions would strengthen the capabilities and competitiveness of SMEs and venture businesses.

The government also signaled it would expand support for SMEs' AI transition. First Vice Minister Noh said in his congratulatory remarks that "while AI is rapidly transforming industries and the way companies produce, small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners are struggling with the AI transition due to limited experience and infrastructure."

In the special lecture, Park Jeong-yun, chief executive of InterX, examined shifts in the AI market and the broader industry landscape and outlined development directions and policy priorities for the manufacturing AI market. Park said AI transformation in manufacturing is changing industrial structures and the way companies compete, and said data utilization infrastructure, specialized talent, field-level pilot and rollout systems, and cooperation between government and industry are all needed for SMEs and mid-sized manufacturers to make the AI transition.

In the thematic presentations, Kim Hee-seon, a research fellow at the Korea Small Business Institute, introduced the solidarity-based innovation model of the Emilia-Romagna region through a presentation on "Northern Italy's Cooperative DX and AX Innovation and Solidarity-Based Platform Model." Kim described how field-embedded technology intermediary organizations addressed individual companies' technology needs and achieved virtual economies of scale through shared digital platforms.

Ko Su-jin, head of the innovation policy division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said in her presentation on "DX and AX Support Measures Based on Industry-Specific Cooperatives" that spreading AI transformation among SMEs requires moving beyond one-off support for individual companies toward policy support centered on industry ecosystems where production processes and on-site challenges are similar.

She added that leveraging cooperatives with organized industry networks and experience in joint business operations would make it possible to establish an AI transformation model linking common demand identification, joint AI model development and pilot testing, and performance dissemination and follow-up management.

Participants reached a consensus that SME innovation transformation must expand beyond the individual company level into shared innovation ecosystems involving companies, industries, regions, and academia-industry-research partnerships. Recommendations also emerged for building data cooperation frameworks, sharing digital infrastructure and pursuing regulatory reform in parallel.


hong@heraldcorp.com