Export Competitiveness of SME Products… We'll Help with Product Design

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Gyeonggi Province is recruiting participating companies for the 'Export Enterprise Intellectual Property Convergence Development Support Project' to strengthen the global competitiveness of export companies until June 19.

The 'Export Enterprise Intellectual Property Convergence Development Support Project' is a product design-focused intellectual property (patent, design, brand) convergence support project that Gyeonggi Province launched in 2015 as the first among local governments nationwide to discover global hit products for exporting SMEs.

Product designs developed through the support project have received favorable evaluations both domestically and internationally. From 2016 to 2019, the project produced three award-winning designs at the Red Dot, one of the world's top three design awards: an automatic dispenser for radioactive materials in 2016, a spinning bike in 2017, and functional cosmetic containers in 2019.

Additionally, two product designs won Winner awards simultaneously at the 2020 Asia Design Prize, Asia's largest-scale design competition.

Applicants are SMEs and mid-sized companies in the province that possess export (prospective) products. Approximately 10 companies will be selected based on evaluation of corporate capacity, clarity of implementation goals, business viability, and growth potential, and will be provided up to 39 million won per company (company contribution separate).

The province plans to support the development of differentiated designs free from intellectual property disputes through internal and external analysis based on intellectual property, market research, and intellectual property protection support from the product design development stage through completion.

Applications must be submitted online through the Gyeonggi Technopark Results Management System (http://pms.gtp.or.kr) by 6 p.m. on June 19.

Lim Moon-young, Director of Future Growth Policy at Gyeonggi Province, said, "Design has an enormous impact on product selection," and "We plan to continue implementing support projects so that SMEs in the province can gain competitiveness in overseas markets through excellent design."

For more details, refer to the announcements posted on the Gyeonggi Province Government website (www.gg.go.kr) or the Gyeonggi Technopark website (www.gtp.or.kr), or contact the Gyeonggi Intellectual Property Center at Gyeonggi Technopark (031-500-3045).