Interior ministry, SK institute to measure social economy results

The interior ministry said Wednesday it signed an agreement with the Social Value Institute, founded by SK, to measure the performance of social solidarity economy innovation models and reward the strongest results.

The partnership with the institute, chaired by Chey Tae-won, was signed at the government complex in Seoul. Under the agreement, the two sides will measure the problem-solving performance of regions selected for the ministry's social solidarity economy innovation model program and provide growth support funds to the best-performing models based on their results.

The institute will develop tailored social performance indicators and measure and verify the results. The cooperation runs for three years from 2027 through 2029 and is worth 1.5 billion won ($1.11 million) in total.

The partnership extends the Social Progress Credit, a system that measures the social value created by individual companies in monetary terms and pays cash rewards proportional to that performance, to the ministry's innovation model program, widening its scope from individual companies to regional innovation models. The institute plans to broaden the measurement target from individual companies to regional innovation models and to lay the groundwork for measuring social value at the regional and city level in the future.

"Measuring the social value created in regions and connecting those results to growth support is the core of this agreement," Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae said. He added that the government will actively support the spread of strong social solidarity economy models to more regions so that residents feel the change.