Scale-up of small and medium-sized venture companies is essential for the development of Korea's economy and industry. Scale-up means leap growth that surpasses average growth. Over the past decade, the growth environment of SMEs has continued to deteriorate, challenging and threatening the scale-up of SMEs. For example, after the global financial crisis, the global market, which is the growth stage of small and medium-sized venture companies, is shrinking due to the new normal of global low growth. Digital normal, based on the technology of the 4th Industrial Revolution, is creating new business opportunities, but it is coming as a challenge and threat to small and medium-sized venture companies with weak digital competitiveness. In particular, Pendemic Normal due to COVID-19 limits the growth of small and medium-sized venture companies by bringing about a major transformation in the existing growth method or business method. These new normal, digital normal, and fendemic normal will not only be a non-real phenomenon, but will also become next normal that dominates the daily lives of our industry and corporate development in the future. In this next normal environment, it is highly likely that the scale-up of small and medium-sized venture companies will become more difficult. Nevertheless, if there is not enough policy support, the negative impact will spread to our economy and industry.

Countries around the world have been implementing various detailed policies since the 2010s, recognizing the importance of scale-up policies. Korea is also emphasizing scale-up policies, judging that it is not easy to create quality jobs only with startups. However, the scale-up policy system and policy contents of Korea are still unclear. As the shift in the scale-upparadigmis expectedto accelerate according toNext Normal, a newscale-up policy shouldbe established accordingly. From the standpoint of the new government, which will be launched in 2022, the scale-up of small and medium-sized venture companies will be a very important policy agenda.

Accordingly, the Korea Institute of Industry analyzed changes in the scale-up structure of small and medium-sized venture companies and conducted research to establish a scale-up policy system suitable for the new environment of Next Normal. This study proposes policy directions and policy tasks focusing on building a new policy system, judging that only fragmentary and partial measures cannot solve the problem of scale-up facing structural changes. Lee Young-joo, a senior researcher at the Small and Medium Venture Business Research Headquarters, is in charge of the research, while Dr. KimJung-ho, Han Chang-yong, and Park Yong-hoon, a researcher at the same headquarters, are participating in the research team. This study conducted an empirical analysis after constructing a scale-up research model for small and medium-sized venture companies by considering existing domestic and foreign studies. The empirical analysis of the research model is the basis for theoretically supporting the basic framework for establishing a scale-up policy system of Korea. This study comprehensively analyzed the scale-up status, case analysis, and related support policies of SMEs to establish a policy system that reflects the scale-up status of SMEs, and proposes proper policy directions and policy tasks based on the analysis results.

The results of this study will contribute to the establishment and operation of new scale-up policies that can lead the sustainable scale-up and satisfactory policy performance of Korean small and medium-sized venture companies in the Next Normal era.