<중기부, 대기업 고충 해결할 ‘AI스타트업’ 모집한다> Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Recruit ‘AI Startups’ to Solve Large Corporations' Challenges

8 Companies in Manufacturing, Medical, Imaging, and Consumer Life Sectors Provide Projects and Internal Data
Up to 2.5 Billion KRW Policy Support Linked

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Artificial intelligence (AI) startups are stepping up as problem solvers for large corporations and venture companies.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 8th that it will open 8 challenges for the AI startup competition ‘AI Championship,’ held for the first time this year, and recruit participating startups. The AI Championship is a competition planned from early this year following the ‘National AI Strategy’ announced in December last year. Following the opening of ‘The Power of Connection, Digital Dream9’ on July 30, it is promoted as the second phase of the large corporation-startup problem solver platform. Applications will be accepted from the 9th to the 29th.

The AI Championship is a newly attempted competition where challenges presented by large corporations and senior ventures are solved using AI technology based on data. The unique features of the AI Championship can be summarized as ▲the first public release of high-quality data owned by large corporations and senior ventures ▲reverse proposals for product and service commercialization plans using AI technology.

A total of 8 companies presented challenges for the AI Championship: ▲LG Science Park ▲Hankook Tire & Technology ▲Kosin University Gospel Hospital ▲KDX Korea Data Exchange ▲Naver ▲BC Card ▲Woowa Brothers ▲WEMAKEPRICE participated.

In the manufacturing sector, LG Science Park presented the challenge of ‘AI that predicts defects in finished products from parts inspection and can explain the causes.’

Hankook Tire & Technology proposed the challenge of ‘AI that determines internal defects of tires not visible externally and classifies 10 types of defects.’

In the medical field, Kosin University Gospel Hospital presented the challenge of ‘AI that analyzes gait abnormality patterns and predicts the risk of falls.’ Gait data including stride and balance were provided for 780 patients with gait abnormalities such as rheumatism and dizziness, and 1,000 healthy individuals.

In the video field, KDX Korea Data Exchange proposed the challenge of ‘developing AI that recognizes and classifies what actions people in videos are performing.’

In the consumer lifestyle sector, challenges were presented as follows: ▲Naver ‘Speech recognition to text conversion’ ▲BC Card ‘Regular customers and sales impact by small business type’ ▲Woowa Brothers ‘Detection of manipulated delivery review ratings and orders’ ▲WEMAKEPRICE ‘Customized promotion based on customer behavior data analysis.’

The competition proceeds in three stages. First, in stage 1, based on sample data for each challenge, startups submit written AI algorithm directions (flowcharts) and product/service ideas, and 48 startups (6 per challenge, 8 challenges) will be selected in early October.

In stage 2, the selected 48 startups will be provided with the full dataset for each of the 8 challenges and will develop AI algorithms in earnest. Then, through face-to-face evaluation, the accuracy of AI algorithms and the creativity and feasibility of product/service plans will be assessed to select 24 startups (3 per challenge, 8 challenges) for the finals in mid-October.

The stage 3 final pitching competition will be held as a special event at COMEUP 2020 in November. Winning teams for each challenge will receive prize money of around 30 million KRW and policy support linked up to 2.5 billion KRW.

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