Starting the 'Data Dam'... 500 Billion Won for 7 Major Projects Including Big Data Center Construction

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The seven core projects of the 'Data Dam' initiative, a flagship task of the Digital New Deal, have taken their first step. A record-breaking total of 4,739 institutions and companies are participating, with government support funding amounting to 499.1 billion KRW.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 2nd that it has completed the selection of major companies to carry out the seven core projects of the Data Dam, including the construction of AI learning data, and will now proceed with the projects in earnest. The seven projects include AI learning data construction, AI vouchers, AI data processing voucher projects, AI convergence projects (AI+X), cloud flagship projects, cloud usage voucher projects, and big data platform and center construction.

Through these efforts, in addition to job creation and economic stimulus effects similar to the construction of the 'Hoover Dam' during the Great Depression in the United States, the plan is to simultaneously promote investment for our future and innovation across various sectors. Since the supplementary budget was confirmed in July, a record total of 4,739 companies and institutions (lead: 2,549, participants: 2,190) applied, and finally, a total of 2,103 executing institutions (lead: 1,335, participants: 768) were selected as the first-year support targets for the Data Dam projects.

The Ministry of Science and ICT expressed expectations that "in this supplementary budget project, most of the country's leading crowdsourcing companies, cloud companies, AI and data solution specialized companies by sector, and software companies participated and were selected. Companies and institutions from various fields such as healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution also joined, which will enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry and promote innovative growth."

◆Overview of the Seven Data Dam Projects

First, the AI learning data construction project, with an investment of 292.5 billion KRW, is the foundation and core of the Data Dam. It is a project to build and open large-scale AI learning data essential for AI service development (www.aihub.or.kr). A total of 1,920 companies and institutions (278 lead institutions, 1,642 participants) applied, showing an average competition rate of 4.2:1, and finally, 584 companies and institutions (72 lead institutions, 512 participants) were selected.

Major AI development specialized companies, crowdsourcing companies, as well as 37 university-industry cooperation foundations including Seoul National University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and 21 major hospitals such as Seoul National University Hospital and National Cancer Center participated in large numbers. Large-scale data such as 700 million Korean language corpora, 60,000 hours of voice data, 60 million images, and 15,000 hours of video including crop pest images and cancer disease videos will be constructed, expected to provide a breakthrough opportunity for the domestic AI industry.

The AI voucher project, started for the first time this year with 56 billion KRW, selected a total of 209 projects (209 demand companies, 155 supply companies) across 17 fields including semiconductor development, startups, dementia prediction, investment analysis, sign language translation, legal services, and air pollution measurement. It is evaluated that companies from various fields such as traditional manufacturing including textiles, hospitals, investment management firms, customs, patents, legal services, and fashion companies can now apply AI to innovative products or services.

In the AI data processing voucher support project (48.9 billion KRW), which supports the conversion of data owned by SMEs and startups into AI learning data to develop innovative AI services, 620 out of 1,152 projects were finally selected as eligible demand companies. The Ministry of Science and ICT added that the proportion of prospective entrepreneurs, one-person creative companies, and small business owners increased from 45% last year to 52% this year, indicating that data utilization is spreading to small businesses and data-based startups are being activated.

Along with this, 16 consortia were selected for the AI convergence project (AI+X) (28.2 billion KRW). It is notable that many companies recognized for high technological competitiveness and growth potential in specialized fields such as healthcare, machine vision, and SOC are included.

Among the core tasks of the cloud industry development strategy, the cloud flagship project (25 billion KRW) involved top domestic cloud companies such as KT, NBP, and NHN. Service development is led entirely by SMEs, expected to contribute to cooperation among large, medium, and small enterprises in the domestic cloud industry. A total of 120 projects were proposed in five fields, including 37 in healthcare and 29 in education. Excluding the manufacturing platform promoted in connection with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups project, four platform development projects and 63 service development projects were selected.

The cloud usage voucher project (8 billion KRW) selected 337 companies out of 458 applicants as the first support targets and will sequentially provide professional consulting to support their transition to and use of cloud services. Among the first selected companies, 73 (21.1%) are in manufacturing, 50 (14.5%) in wholesale and retail, and 15 (4.3%) in health and social welfare, indicating that the project will serve as a foundational business for the spread of cloud services across all industries. Additional demand companies will be selected in September, with plans to support over 600 companies by the end of the year.

Finally, the big data platform and center construction project (40.5 billion KRW) is considered one of the core projects of the Data Dam, where public and private sectors collaborate to produce and open high-quality, highly usable data to innovate the domestic data ecosystem and enhance corporate competitiveness. In this supplementary budget, 40.5 billion KRW will be invested to additionally build five platforms and 50 centers that collect, analyze, and distribute data in key fields. With five new big data platforms to be established this year, combined with the 10 platforms set up last year, the supply of high-quality data to the Data Dam is expected to continuously expand.

◆"Standardizing Data and Improving AI Legislation"

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to strengthen data standardization and quality management, introduce a specialized digital service contract system including cloud services, and improve AI legislation and ethics going forward.

First, to ensure interoperability between data, data standardization will be promoted. 'AI learning data standards' for major industries such as autonomous driving and healthcare will be developed, and after consultation with related ministries, core fields will be standardized domestically and efforts will be made to extend these to international standards. Additionally, quality management systems will be significantly strengthened, research services will be conducted to revitalize the integrated big data exchange, and guidelines on data trading principles and standards, including data pricing and quality evaluation methods, will be developed.

Alongside this, to facilitate public sector procurement of digital services including private cloud, the contract system will be improved from the 'project announcement-bidding-contract' method to a 'service search-use' method, implementing a 'specialized digital service contract system' by October this year.

Furthermore, to respond to paradigm shifts in the economy and society caused by AI, a comprehensive AI legislation improvement roadmap will be presented in November, summarizing regulatory improvement measures. Also, with the Basic Act on Intelligent Informatization, the fundamental law for the AI era, coming into effect in December this year, subordinate statutes will be completed, and by comparing and analyzing AI ethical norms from major countries and international organizations, Korea's AI ethical standards will be established.

Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "Despite the short period, we appreciate the high interest and participation of private companies, universities, and local governments in the supplementary budget projects related to the Data Dam. Since private investment and participation are crucial alongside government efforts, we will simultaneously build legal and institutional infrastructure and closely cooperate with related ministries through the Digital New Deal Task Force to ensure the smooth implementation of Data Dam-related projects."

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