Gyeonggi Province Supports Social Economy Regional Specialized Projects in 22 Cities and Counties

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hoon, Reporter] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 9th that it has selected 22 cities and counties in the 'Social Economy Regional Specialized Projects 2020' selection screening and will provide a total of 1.473 billion won in support.

Regional specialized projects are businesses conducted directly by cities and counties to discover and foster social economy business models that reflect regional characteristics, enhance recognition, and explore sales channels. In response to applications submitted by cities and counties, the provincial review committee conducted final selection of 22 cities and counties, taking into account business plans and the appropriateness of requested amounts.

Key projects include the following: Osan City will ▲open a sales outlet for social economy business products within the tourism welcome center to support expanded sales channels ▲hold a video content competition targeting citizens on the social economy. In 2019, Osan City also produced 13 youth social economy activists through the 'Ozida' project—an acronym for the diverse stories of young people changing Osan's regions (using the Korean characters for 'O', 'Ji', and 'Da').
Namyangju City plans to implement a project to discover social economy business models in the resource recycling and environmental sectors in response to increased household waste from new city development in areas such as Byeollae, Dasan, and Jinjeop, and continued population growth. Last year, Namyangju City also cultivated 10 social economy businesses in the service sector to expand insufficient living services, and continues to select themes suited to regional conditions each year and implement ongoing social economy business discovery projects.
Yangju City will conduct a level-up project in connection with local universities targeting businesses facing difficulties in early management after establishing social economy enterprises. The city plans to connect supporters composed of social economy business representatives and university circle participants including professors and students, and through prototype development and marketing support, will elaborate business models and contribute to raising awareness among university students.

Kim Mi-sung, Director of the Social Economy Division, stated, "In line with the government's social economy revitalization measures, we will implement various projects reflecting regional characteristics of cities and counties to discover social economy businesses and share outcomes to minimize regional disparities between cities and counties." He also added, "We will make our best efforts to foster sound social economy businesses that contribute to the local community."

Meanwhile, social economy businesses operating in the province include 3,094 cooperatives, 664 social enterprises, 215 village enterprises, and 183 self-reliance enterprises, for a total of 4,156 operations.