[Ministry of SMEs and Startups]
[Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

15 individual, 15 corporate candidates — voters may cast up to 6 ballots

97 awards total, including 17 government citations; winners to be announced at November co-prosperity week

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will hold a public online vote from Wednesday through Aug. 13 to help select recipients of this year's "Co-Prosperity Company of the Year" government awards, the ministry announced Tuesday. Public ballots will account for half of each candidate's final evaluation score, giving ordinary citizens a significantly expanded role in the selection process.

The vote is designed to embed public participation at every stage — from nominations to final selection — to encourage the spread of co-prosperity cooperation. Candidates were narrowed down through assessments by a public nomination review panel and recommendations from the Council on Mutual Cooperation, yielding 15 individual nominees and 15 corporate nominees.

The individual-category candidates are officials who have led co-prosperity and cooperation initiatives at Kia, Metatoon, Samsung Display, LG Innotek, Innocean, Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA), Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, Korea Seven, Posco, Korea Transportation Safety Authority, Korea Western Power, Korea District Heating, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Mobis.

The corporate category includes the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement, Lotte Department Store, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, SK Intellix, LIG D&A, LG Household, GNS Technology, KB Financial, Korea Gas Corporation, Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade, Korea Expressway Corporation, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, Korea Electric Power Corporation, Korea Jungbu Power and Hyundai Autoever.

Voting takes place on the Council on Mutual Cooperation's website. After identity verification, each participant may cast up to three votes in the individual category and three in the corporate category, for a maximum of six votes total. Candidates' co-prosperity records and detailed profiles are also available on the site.

Final scores will be calculated by combining the public vote, worth 50 points, with the public nomination review panel's assessment, also worth 50 points. A merit review committee will then deliberate before determining the final recipients, with results to be announced at a ceremony marking "Co-Prosperity Week" on Nov. 26.

This year's program comprises 97 citations in total — 17 government honors, including two orders of merit, one industrial service medal, seven Prime Minister commendations and seven presidential commendations, along with 80 ministerial commendations. The scale is similar to last year's, a signal that the government continues to pursue the discovery and promotion of exemplary co-prosperity cases as a sustained policy priority.

"The intent is to raise the weight of public participation in order to strengthen the fairness and real-world impact of co-prosperity cooperation," a ministry official said. "Because the vote results are directly reflected in the awards, encouraging participation is crucial."


hong@heraldcorp.com