"Data Dam to Enhance Public Experience" 130 Billion Won Invested This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 1st that starting from the 2nd, it will promote the 2021 major data utilization project competitions, including the Data Voucher and Flagship projects. The goal is to create innovative services that the public can experience through the so-called 'Data Dam' built on data collected from various fields.

The major data utilization projects promoted this year include ▲Data Voucher with 123 billion KRW ▲Data Flagship with 6 billion KRW ▲Support for Big Data Utilization by SMEs with 1 billion KRW, totaling approximately 130 billion KRW.

First, the Data Voucher support project is a program that supports the costs of data products or processing services necessary for SMEs and small business owners to innovate their business or develop new products and services using data. This year, a total of 2,580 vouchers (total budget of 123 billion KRW) will be supported.

This year, emergency support (5 billion KRW) will be provided to solve social issues that the public can feel, such as infectious disease (COVID-19) response and carbon neutrality solutions, and additional points will be given to supplier companies introducing crowdsourcing (in the AI processing sector) to maximize overcoming economic recession and job creation through data utilization.

Furthermore, in accordance with the amendment of the Data 3 Act, pseudonymization and anonymization (de-identification) processing are defined as part of processing tasks to support the use of pseudonymized information by industry sector. To prevent accidents such as personal information leakage that may occur during de-identification processing, the ministry plans to collaborate with related specialized institutions to provide corporate education and consulting.

The Data Flagship project is a program that supports the development of products and services to solve social issues and innovate business using big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. This year, a total of 12 tasks will be supported, and participation is open to both public institutions and private companies. The total budget is 6 billion KRW.

The SME Big Data Analysis Utilization Support project provides customized consulting by linking (matching) local SMEs and big data specialized companies together with local governments so that SMEs can strengthen their competitiveness and create new business value using big data. With a total budget of 1 billion KRW, it plans to support 4 local governments and about 80 SMEs.

Song Kyung-hee, Director of AI-based Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “We will create innovative data utilization cases with significant ripple effects by providing various opportunities to use high-quality data accumulated through the Data Dam, supplying data appropriately to SMEs and small business owners, and supporting processing and convergence.”

He added, “To realize a data utilization ecosystem where the public can feel the effects of the Digital New Deal, we will promote not only innovation across the economy but also enhance public convenience throughout society and contribute to solving various social problems.”

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