The world’s largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries announced on Tuesday that it would set up a 30 billion won ($27 million) fund for supporting small and medium sized enterprises’ research and development efforts in collaboration with the Small and Medium Business Administration.

The shipbuilder and the Small and Medium Business Administration will each be responsible for raising 15 billion won for the project. 

The fund will be used to finance SMEs’ R&D project. Products resulting from projected financed with the fund will then be purchased by Hyundai Heavy.

The company said that the fund will be used to cover up to 75 percent of the R&D costs within 1 billion won limit.

“The agreement is very meaningful in that the government and a large company is joining hands to provide research funding and secure sales avenues,” Hyundai Heavy president Lee Jai-seong said.

In a separate development, Hyundai Heavy sent out 10 excavators designed for clearing snow to areas in Gangwon Province affected by the recent heavy snows. The equipment, along with operating staff, are being deployed until Thursday.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)