The Korea Institute for Development Strategy (KDS) has successfully conducted the 'Capacity Building in the Dominican Republic for the Development of Innovation and Industrial Entrepreneurship' in Korea from August 19th to September 1st, which is a part of KOICA's Capacity Building Improvement and Advancement for Tomorrow (CIAT) Program with the purpose to enhance capacities of public officials.
For the first-year invitational training, 9 public officials were invited to Korea; the delegation of the Dominican Republic is from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and MSMEs, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, PROINDUSTRIA, Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), Higher Community Technical Institute (ITSC) and National Institute of Technical and Vocational Training (INFOTEP).
The program was designed with the following course modules: Korea's Economic Development and Policy Support for Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Korea's Startup Support System; Industry-University-Government Cooperation Strategy; and Understanding of Korean culture. Each module consists of a series of lectures, site visits, workshops and extracurricular activities.
Not only did they attend lectures, the participants visited the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Small Business Training Institute, Youth Startup Academy, Pangyo Techno Valley, etc. Through the visits, the delegates gained the opportunity to understand the roles of each institution and its policies and strategies to support SMEs, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and strengthen the industry-university-government cooperation in Korea.
Discussing the current issues and challenges facing the Dominican manufacturing industry and (M)SMEs, 3 groups of the delegation has formulated the Action Plans presenting their strategies and initiatives for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship in manufacturing sector in the country. During the presentation of the Action Plans, Dr. Chun, the President of KDS, and Dr. Hwangboo, the Managing Director of K&P Investment, have provided essential and realistic advice and feedback on the Plans.
**This was the first year of the multi-year training program on Capacity Building in the Dominican Republic for the Development of Innovation and Industrial Entrepreneurship(2018-2020). Reflecting the result of the KOICA course evaluation, with the score of 9.9 out of 10 on Participant Satisfaction, KDS will plan to design a course for next year in a systematic way.
