Commercializing SME Technologies: Tasks for Policy

The concept of technology commercialization is defined differently by each scholar, but it is generally understood as a process of converting the knowledge created from research into new or improved products, processes and services, and selling them in the market to create economic benefits. According to Article 2 of the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Promotion Act, technology commercialization is defined as the development, production and sale of products using technology, or the improvement of related technologies in such a process. The government has continuously increased its R&D budget in preparation for an era of technological competition, from 15.9 trillion won in 2012 to 17.6 trillion won in 2014 and up to 19.1 trillion won in 2016. The ratio of the government R&D budget to GDP was 1.05 percent as of 2013, which is higher than in major advanced countries such as the United States (0.79 percent), Germany (0.92 percent) and Japan (0.75 percent). According to government R&D budget support, the success rate of technology development at SMEs is 96 percent, but the success rate of commercialization is just 48 percent. In other words, despite the high success rate of government R&D support projects, more than half of SMEs cannot achieve commercialization, resulting in a waste of development technology. In order for the government to enhance technological achievement and improve the economic outcomes of R&D in the future, it is necessary to focus on technological innovation activities of the corporate sector, especially at SMEs. In order to effectively cope with the fourth industrial revolution, it is particularly important to build a technology commercialization ecosystem in which SMEs play a key role. This study first examines the status and problems of technology commercialization at SMEs. Second, it examines case studies in technology commercialization support policy, focusing on major advanced countries such as the U.S. and UK. Finally, it concludes with several policy suggestions to promote technology commercialization of SMEs.