Reducing New Material Development Time by Integrating AI into Material Research

Establishment and Utilization Plan for Data-Driven Materials Research Innovation Hub Confirmed
Goal to Provide Three Major Data and AI Services by 2022

Overview of the Three Major Data and AI Services (Source: Ministry of Science and ICT)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The government is integrating data and artificial intelligence (AI) into materials research to shorten the development period of new materials.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it has finalized and will promote the "Data-Based Materials Research Innovation Hub Establishment and Utilization Plan" through the 5th Materials, Parts, and Equipment Competitiveness Enhancement Committee.

This aims to establish a system to collect and manage scattered materials research data for use in materials research and development. Starting with 8 billion KRW secured through the Digital New Deal supplementary budget, the government plans to invest 59.8 billion KRW by 2027 to build a research data collection and sharing platform.

The government will promote the establishment of a system for collecting, managing, and utilizing materials research data. To secure high-quality data, a standard data input template will be developed by next year, aiming to secure 4.2 million metadata entries that AI can learn from by 2021. This will gradually expand from Ministry of Science and ICT R&D projects to basic research, including the collection of extracted data from papers and patents.

A dedicated high-performance computing environment for managing large-scale materials research data will be established by 2026. The plan is to partially use Supercomputer No. 5 initially and build a dedicated system by 2026. Additionally, three major data and AI utilization services will be provided to enable researchers and companies to use the collected data more conveniently.

By 2022, the goal is to provide three major services: exploration and design, process development, and measurement and analysis. AI will be developed to quickly design materials with desired properties, and process development and optimization solutions will be offered to enable the researched materials to be realized in mass production processes. During measurement and analysis, researchers’ advanced know-how will be shared, and interpretation guidelines will be provided.

The foundation for activating data-based materials research will also be established. A national materials research data center will be designated and operated. Specialized centers for application fields such as energy, environment, and information and communication will also be deployed. To establish a data collection and utilization system, registration of data from government R&D projects will be made mandatory, and guidelines including data security systems will be created. A pilot project will be promoted to utilize the materials research innovation hub and the three major services throughout the entire materials research and development cycle to reduce time and costs.

Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT said, "Research data is a catalyst that will bring innovation to the materials research pipeline, and through data utilization, we expect new materials connecting light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and carbon fiber to be secured domestically. The process of changing the research paradigm requires consensus with the research field above all else, and we will pursue policies with a long-term perspective."

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