The Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP) has substantially increased its budget—expanding it from 2.3 billion KRW to 15.5 billion KRW—for purchasing and utilizing industrial property rights pledged as collateral under the Patent Act. This initiative is designed to support companies that possess excellent technological capabilities but lack physical collateral. Alongside this, the introduction of an AI-driven IP valuation system has significantly lowered the legal and technical thresholds for securing commercial financial loans backed by patent rights.
Furthermore, MOIP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with major credit guarantee institutions, including the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), as well as South Korea's three major internet-only banks: Kbank, KakaoBank, and Toss Bank. Following this agreement, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro-business owners holding intellectual property rights, such as patents, will now be able to secure IP-backed guarantee loans entirely through non-face-to-face (digital) channels.
Source: Korea Patent Attorneys Association (KPAA) News
(http://www.kpaanews.or.kr/news/view.html?section=2&category=10&no=6921)