South Korea's National Information Society Agency (NIA) won the top prize in the shared growth category at the 'KEMI ESG Awards 2026' held at the Seoul Press Center on Wednesday.

The awards ceremony, hosted by the Korea ESG Management Development Institute (KEMI), is in its second year. The shared growth category was newly added this year to identify best practices by companies and institutions that contributed to win-win cooperation with partner firms and the creation of quality jobs.

NIA received grades of “average” in 2023, “good” in 2024 and “excellent” in 2025 in the “public institutions shared growth evaluation” conducted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Its evaluation grade rose for two consecutive years. The agency runs an organisation-wide performance management system, including regularly reviewing shared growth results and reflecting shared growth indicators in performance contracts for departments and staff in charge.

This year, it expanded support for environmental, social and governance (ESG) management to partner companies. It provided ESG consulting and support to obtain certificates of recognition as excellent companies for 4 small partner firms based at its headquarters in Daegu. It also strengthened support for the local community by signing agreements with the Daegu Dongbu Police Station and the Daegu Dong-gu Park Golf Association and providing voice phishing prevention education for older people.

NIA President Hyung-cheol Kim (김형철) said the award was meaningful because it recognised efforts to continue growing with small businesses and partner companies. He said NIA would use the award as an opportunity to pursue ESG management in substance and broaden the path of shared growth with partner companies and the local community.