MSS announces call for new innovative product designations for second half of year

Jul 10, 2026, 09:48 am

The Ministry of Startups and SMEs (MSS) announced on July 9 that it has issued a public call for the "new innovative product designations for the second half of 2026" and will accept applications from July 10 to August 10 to help SMEs carve out initial sales channels for their outstanding R&D products.

Introduced in 2020, the innovative product designation system selects products with excellent public utility and innovativeness among the results generated through SME R&D support programs, helping SMEs smoothly enter the public procurement market.

The program is open to SMEs that have successfully completed R&D projects managed by the MSS within the past five years and commercialized the corresponding technology. Eligible products will undergo evaluations for public utility and technological innovativeness, along with a procurement suitability review by the Public Procurement Service. Following a final review by the Procurement Policy Deliberation Committee under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the selected products will receive their official designations in December.

Once designated as an innovative product, a range of benefits are provided. Companies can sign private contracts with the national government, local governments, and public institutions for up to six years from the date of designation. They can also secure stable sales channels as their products are included in the innovative product purchasing target system and prioritized procurement lists for public institutions.

In particular, the "innovative product pilot purchase program" operated by the Public Procurement Service is a scheme where the government directly purchases innovative products for public institutions to use and verify their performance. Through this, companies can enhance the public service quality of their products while securing opportunities to establish a foothold in the market.

In the first half of this year, the MSS designated a total of 32 outstanding products as innovative products, including "Mango Global," an AI-based waste management system that optimizes the entire waste logistics process, and a "real-time situational awareness anti-drone gun" that tracks a drone's position, direction, and travel speed in real time to support rapid response and command control.

Hwang Young-ho, director general for technology innovation policy at the MSS, stated, "We hope that the R&D achievements made by SMEs will bear fruit by entering the public procurement market through this innovative product designation. We will spare no policy support to ensure that excellent technologies from SMEs can meet their very first customer in the public market and achieve innovative growth."

Meanwhile, an information session will be held to help companies better understand the system. The MSS will host the "information session for the Ministry of Startups and SMEs innovative product designation system for the second half of 2026" on July 15 in the main conference room on the B1 floor of the Yonsei Severance Building in Seoul.

Oh Se-eun

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