A series of "commercialization guarantee finance" programs designed to help public R&D outcomes become genuine growth engines for businesses have been introduced in quick succession.
Strong research results developed through government-funded projects or by public research institutions on their own are plentiful, yet many stall or are shelved midway due to technology rights issues and difficulties securing funding during the commercialization process.
Addressing this, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) has recently launched two R&D commercialization guarantee products in rapid succession.
Following the introduction of the "R&D Commercialization Project Guarantee" in June, KODIT this month added the "R&D Commercialization Securitization Guarantee." Together, the two programs will supply a combined 340 billion won ($231 million) in guarantees to eligible companies this year — 260 billion won under the project guarantee and 80 billion won under the securitization guarantee.
The project guarantee covers individual business projects undertaken by companies commercializing R&D outcomes that received government funding. Moving away from the conventional company-level assessment model, it evaluates only the success potential and growth prospects of each individual project. Eligible companies are those commercializing technology developed through a government R&D project or technology transferred from a public research institution. The support limit reaches up to 10 billion won per project, including facility funding, on top of existing guarantee limits.
The securitization guarantee likewise promotes the commercialization of government R&D outcomes and technology transferred from public research institutions. It bundles corporate bonds and receivables issued by multiple companies, converts them into liquid assets, and enhances their credit quality through a guarantee. The underlying assets consist of corporate bonds issued by companies commercializing R&D technology and technology-licensing fee receivables held by public research institutions.
In practice, if a given technology is licensed for 1 billion won, the individual licensing fees owed by each company using that technology are pooled together and guaranteed by KODIT, allowing the public research institution to collect on its receivables. The resulting asset-backed securities are then sold to financial institutions, providing the companies with the funding they need.
Beyond the R&D commercialization guarantees, the Primary Collateralized Bond Obligation (P-CBO) system supports companies in the midst of technology commercialization by easing their funding constraints. KODIT backed the issuance of 238.9 billion won in P-CBOs in the first half of this year.
"We are strengthening tailored policies to build a growth ladder for small and venture businesses," a KODIT official said. "We will contribute to creating an ecosystem in which government-funded and public research institution R&D technology flows through to become growth engines for companies."
freiheit@heraldcorp.com
