“ICT Spreads Positive Influence” SKT and Kakao Resolve Mutual Cooperation on ‘AI, ESG, and Intellectual Property Rights’

Joint AI Technology Development... Expansion to Infrastructure, Data, Language Models, and More
Establishment of ESG Joint Fund to Support Sustainable ESG Management for ICT Innovative Companies
Mutual Opening of Intellectual Property Rights... Upcoming Announcement of 'Pandemic Overcoming AI' Ultra-Collaboration Achievements

Yu Young-sang, SKT MNO Business Representative (left), and Yeo Min-soo, Co-CEO of Kakao, are sharing a common purpose to share key assets of AI, ESG, and intellectual property with our society and are signing a related MOU at Kakao Pangyo Office in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] SK Telecom announced on the 14th that it has agreed with Kakao to mutually cooperate in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), ESG (environment, social, and governance), and intellectual property rights, and to share key assets such as technologies in these areas with our society.

First, the two companies decided to jointly develop AI technologies representing Korea. AI technology development will be carried out across all areas including infrastructure, data, and language models, with focused investment and development starting this year.

To this end, they plan to share AI training data in text, voice, and image formats and actively utilize it for development. The two companies will mutually use the jointly developed AI technologies and also promote plans to disclose them to academia and startups for the purpose of contributing to society.

Additionally, they plan to establish a joint ESG fund to support sustainable development activities of ICT (information and communication technology) innovative companies such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups. The joint ESG fund is under consideration to be managed through Kakao Ventures. Furthermore, based on their experience operating growth support programs, they will support the overall management activities of ICT innovative companies.

Lastly, they plan to share intellectual property rights (patents) held by each company and open them for public interest purposes to SMEs and venture companies. To strengthen intellectual property exchanges between the two companies, they agreed to minimize intellectual property disputes and build a joint intellectual property pool in future business areas such as AI, platforms, and media. Through this, SMEs and venture companies are expected to have expanded opportunities to use core technologies and service assets held by both companies free of charge.

Over the past five years, SK Telecom has participated in patent-sharing activities with the Invention Promotion Association and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, opening 2,597 patents, among which 130 patents were transferred free of charge upon corporate requests. Kakao has also supported startups and venture companies through various investments and acquisitions and plans to grow together with many companies by opening intangible assets such as patents.

Since exchanging shares worth 300 billion KRW and establishing a strategic partnership in 2019, the two companies have closely cooperated through a ‘Synergy Council’ attended by executives from both sides. This led to the formation of the ‘AI R&D Council’ last December among SK Telecom, Kakao, and Samsung Electronics. The three companies plan to unveil the first result of their ultra-collaboration, ‘Pandemic Overcoming AI,’ by the first half of this year. Pandemic Overcoming AI is a solution where AI assesses the COVID-19 risk level in real time at the user’s location and recommends social distancing or guides detour routes.

Yoo Young-sang, Head of SK Telecom’s MNO Business, said, “We hope that the core ICT assets of SK Telecom and Kakao will serve as a catalyst to accelerate the development of our society,” and added, “We will secure world-class AI technology and utilize the results to solve social challenges.”

Yeo Min-soo, Co-CEO of Kakao, said, “It is meaningful that two big tech companies share and distribute core assets related to AI, ESG, and intellectual property rights with society,” and stated, “We will strive to contribute to industrial development and solve environmental and social issues through ICT technology.”

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