Full-Scale Support for Contactless Business... 37 Billion KRW for 40 Projects Including AI Autonomous Disinfection Robots

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] A total of 37 billion KRW will be invested in 40 projects related to non-face-to-face business, such as AI autonomous quarantine robots and services that measure students' class participation in online education.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 25th that it has completed the selection of performing organizations and agreements for the project 'Development of Digital Innovation Technologies for Non-Face-to-Face Business,' which is promoted as part of the 'Digital New Deal,' and will fully proceed with the projects.

This is an initiative to respond to the digital transformation across society and the economy due to the spread of non-face-to-face services such as remote work, education, and unmanned services caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). To enhance the competitiveness of domestic companies and secure market leadership, a total of 37 billion KRW will be supported for 40 projects, including core ICT technologies for non-face-to-face services (20 projects, 1.5 billion KRW per project) and commercialization support (20 projects, 350 million KRW per project).

The public offering, which began immediately after the approval of the third supplementary budget, saw intense enthusiasm from companies, with some fields recording a competition rate of 14.1 to 1. A total of 221 organizations applied, showing a high average competition rate of 5.5 to 1.

As a result of the public offering, 13 companies, 6 research institutes, and 1 university were selected for the technology development projects supporting the development of core ICT technologies necessary for non-face-to-face services.

Itol plans to develop a service that supports improving learning efficiency by measuring students' class participation (concentration) in online education using AI-based video analysis technology. Unngel will develop technology that recognizes participants' voices in real-time during video conferences, generates subtitles for meeting content, and automatically creates meeting minutes. In addition, ICT development in the field of infectious disease prevention and response, whose necessity has increased due to COVID-19, will also be promoted, including real-time identification of unmasked individuals in crowded environments (Inflab), non-face-to-face health diagnosis signage technology (Gachon University), and citizen-participatory digital quarantine technology (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute).

For the ‘R&D Voucher’ projects supporting rapid product development and commercialization, 20 small and medium-sized enterprises including Ubimicro and Vision Semicon were selected. Ubimicro (in cooperation with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) will develop an ‘intelligent untact health monitoring system’ that can measure and analyze the infection status of workers in industrial facilities. Vision Semicon (in cooperation with the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials) plans to develop a mobile quarantine robot that uses AI technology to monitor customers and store conditions in real-time and a droplet-blocking system that can minimize virus transmission.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to disburse all project funds by the end of September. Osangjin, Director of the Information and Communication Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The major transformation of the economic and social structure, such as the spread of non-face-to-face services and acceleration of digital transformation due to COVID-19, reaffirms the importance of ‘digital capabilities.’” He added, “Since we possess excellent ICT capabilities, this can be a new opportunity. We will actively support companies to secure competitiveness in non-face-to-face business and to lead the market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.