"Last Year, 12,000 Companies Participated in the Digital New Deal... A Year That Laid the Foundation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] It has been identified that over 12,000 companies and approximately 49,000 personnel participated in the digital New Deal projects throughout last year.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the progress of the digital New Deal on the 14th. The digital New Deal is a 'national innovation project' in which related ministries invest 44.8 trillion KRW of national funds by 2025 to overcome the economic recession and employment issues caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Since the announcement of the Korean New Deal plan in July last year, the Ministry of Science and ICT has invested 1.6 trillion KRW in the digital New Deal budget and has been promoting 81 projects. A total of 12,486 domestic companies and institutions participated in the Ministry’s digital New Deal projects. Among them, small and venture companies accounted for about 10,000, representing 86.8%.

The number of personnel involved in the digital New Deal projects was counted at 49,157, including about 40,000 in the Data Dam project and approximately 4,600 in digital inclusion. Among those participating in the 'AI (Artificial Intelligence) Learning Data Construction Project,' about 24,000 people (62%) were employment-vulnerable groups such as youth preparing for employment, women with career interruptions, unemployed persons, and people with disabilities. Additionally, through the ‘Digital Learning Center Project,’ about 4,600 digital education instructors and supporters were employed, contributing to solving local employment issues.

Participation of domestic software (SW) companies in supplying data and AI solutions increased by 94% and 151%, respectively, compared to the previous year. The number of companies utilizing digital technologies supported by AI, data, and cloud vouchers also increased. Participation of non-ICT companies in digital transformation rose by 85%. The number of AI supply companies reached 553, more than doubling from 220 in 2019, and the number of data supply companies also nearly doubled to 765 from 393 in 2019.

About 14,000 digital personnel were nurtured through educational infrastructure. The number of ‘AI Graduate Schools’ for training master’s and doctoral-level talents expanded from 5 to 8, and 4 new ‘AI Convergence Research Centers’ were established. Furthermore, the Ministry of Science and ICT operated 1,000 ‘Digital Learning Centers’ nationwide with participation from 17 metropolitan and 215 basic local governments, striving to narrow the digital divide by providing digital competency education accessible to all citizens.

Based on this digital New Deal, South Korea ranked 7th among 172 countries in the ‘Government AI Readiness Index’ surveyed by Oxford Insights, rising 19 places from 26th the previous year.

The Ministry of Science and ICT is also promoting 'AI Convergence Services (AI+X)' that utilize AI in seven major areas closely related to citizens’ lives, such as predicting new infectious diseases and detecting illegal counterfeit products. Currently, 55 companies are developing services using data such as 500,000 medical images including MRI and X-rays, and 500,000 images of illegal counterfeit products through this project.

To advance the virtual convergence economy, focused investment is being made in the development of next-generation VR·AR (virtual and augmented reality) immersive content. The research and development of Doctor Answer 1.0, AI-based software supporting disease diagnosis, prediction, and treatment, has also been completed. In October last year, the AI semiconductor industry development strategy was announced to foster AI semiconductors as the second D-RAM.

Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT emphasized, “The year 2020 was the year we laid the foundation for the digital transformation by planning and initiating the digital New Deal,” and added, “In 2021, the digital New Deal will take the lead in making it a year of recovery, inclusion, and leap forward.” He further stated, “The total projects worth 7.6 trillion KRW jointly promoted by related ministries will be monitored for progress and challenges through the joint digital New Deal task force, which is already organized and operating, and we will continue efforts to ensure that the public can tangibly feel the results.”

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