AI NewsWaveMinister Lee So-young of SMEs and Startups: "Small Businesses Should Lead the AI Transformation"
Key points
- Minister Lee attends Smart Biz Expo
- Policy shifts from smart factories to manufacturing AI
- Stresses cooperation to narrow gap with large companies
Lee So-young, minister of SMEs and Startups, attended the opening ceremony of the "2026 Smart Biz Expo" at COEX in Seoul on the 13th and said small and medium-sized businesses should be the protagonists of the AI transformation. Industry News and Hellot reported that after checking the results of win-win smart factories, the minister also visited a smart factory site that actually uses AI.
According to VentureSquare, the site she visited was Dfarmstech in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province. The same outlet reported that since 2018 the ministry has supported the building of smart factories at about 6,800 small and medium-sized businesses with the cooperation of some 60 large companies and public enterprises.
On policy direction, Chosun Biz reported that the minister expressed a determination to develop smart factory policy from production automation to AI-driven manufacturing innovation, and stressed cooperation to narrow the gap between large companies and small businesses. AI Newspaper (인공지능신문) reported that the ministry will strengthen step-by-step support policies for upgrading smart factories and adopting physical AI.