Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee So-young stated today (the 13th) that, amid the era of the artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, she will actively pursue "manufacturing AI innovation" policies to move beyond simple production automation and fully introduce AI into manufacturing sites to enhance the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Attending the opening ceremony of the 2026 Smart Biz Expo held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Minister Lee said, "The biggest challenge facing our economy right now is polarization." She added, "To narrow the gap between large corporations and SMEs and ensure the warmth of growth reaches the field, large corporations must share their capital and manufacturing innovation know-how with SMEs to jointly enhance competitiveness."

She further emphasized, "In the era of the AI transformation, smart factories must also evolve beyond the stage of production automation into manufacturing AI innovation, where AI assists field judgments and fundamentally boosts manufacturing competitiveness."

The Smart Biz Expo is an event organized jointly by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korea Federation of SMEs, and Samsung Electronics to promote excellent products and technologies from SMEs supported in building smart factories and to help expand their sales channels.

Running for four days from today through the 16th, the event features products and technologies showcased by 53 SMEs that have participated in smart factory establishment.

A total of 37 companies are participating in the general exhibition hall covering household goods, industrial goods, and machinery equipment, alongside 6 companies in the AI special pavilion and 10 companies in the win-win market.

In particular, the AI special pavilion introduces AI solutions and process models actually applied to manufacturing sites.

Since introducing the large-SME collaborative smart factory policy in 2018, the Ministry has supported the establishment of smart factories for approximately 6,800 SMEs in cooperation with around 60 large corporations and public enterprises.

After touring the event venue today, Minister Lee visited Dipharmstech, a small and medium-sized manufacturing company located in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, to inspect the site where AI technology has been applied to actual production processes and listened to the difficulties faced by corporate officials.

Dipharmstech is an exporting company that produces automobile parts, semiconductor sockets, and camera components based on ultra-precision mold manufacturing technology.

The company improved its processes by having AI, which was trained by capturing thumbnail-sized optical components 20 to 40 times per second, take over product sorting tasks, thereby increasing facility operation rates.

During the site visit, challenges such as difficulties in securing professional manpower during the smart factory adoption process and the need for phased support tailored to the technological levels of enterprises were raised.

Minister Lee stated, "We will strengthen phased support policies ranging from digital transformation to the adoption of physical AI and foster core manufacturing AI talent." She added, "We will devise support policies so that the results of national strategic projects, such as physical AI, extend to SMEs, allowing them to establish themselves as proud protagonists."

(Photo: Yonhap News)