Korea launches World Class 10 Wings project to back mid-sized firms

The industry ministry said Thursday it launched a roundtable to plan a flagship programme that will channel up to 100 billion won ($74.7 million) over five years into each selected project led by South Korea's mid-sized companies.

The World Class 10 Wings project, announced at the LW Convention Center in Seoul, succeeds the ministry's existing World Class programme and aims to nurture mid-sized firms into global leaders in 10 promising fields through system-level technology development. The ministry said it will look for large-scale tasks that span the entire value chain, from components and materials to equipment, processes and finished products, with mid-sized companies at the centre.

Projects are to be selected in two broad categories: technologies that leap past the limits of existing systems to create new markets, and technologies that secure an overwhelming edge within established markets. To draw out private-sector ideas, the ministry will run technology demand surveys and meetings with industry, then use a hackathon-style process to debate and verify the feasibility of securing each technology before finalising 10 candidate tasks by the end of this year.

A roundtable launch ceremony on Thursday afternoon brought together about 20 experts from industry, academia and research in technology, economics and policy. Park Dong-il, director general for industrial policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Yoon Eui-jun, president of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, serve as co-chairmen of the roundtable.

"I hope the system technology development pursued through this 10 Wings project becomes the wings that let our mid-sized companies take off into the global market," Park said. "The government will also actively support them so that mid-sized companies can grow into global core companies leading system technology and supply chains, and so that the growth ladder running from small to mid-sized to large companies can be restored."

Support will cover everything from independent technology development to patents, standards, marketing, certification and overseas expansion. The ministry plans to give priority backing to selected tasks through preliminary research in 2027 and leading projects in 2028, with the remaining tasks to be supported from 2029 after consultations with science and technology and budget authorities.

The launch follows a basic plan for promoting mid-sized company growth that several ministries announced jointly on Oct. 1.