"Solving Social Issues and Commercializing with AI" Ministry of Science and ICT Hosts AI Competition with 6 Billion KRW Prize Pool

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 3rd that it will hold the ‘2021 Artificial Intelligence Online Competition,’ where participants compete in developing AI algorithms online. The AI Online Competition aims to expand the base of AI technology and select promising prospective entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and venture companies with excellent algorithm development capabilities to support the commercialization of AI technology-based businesses.

Unlike existing government support projects that select supported companies by receiving business plans and having them reviewed by evaluators, this competition verifies the problem-solving and algorithm development skills of participating teams and evaluates the commercialization potential of the ideas held by teams with verified technical skills to select the best teams. This year, the support scale has been expanded compared to last year, providing a total of 6 billion KRW (up to 300 million KRW per company) in funding and consulting to 20 participating teams.

Anyone interested in the AI field can participate, and a total of 10 problems will be presented using AI training data open on ‘AI Hub.’ The problems are divided into three fields: image, natural language, and numerical analysis, and each field consists of various problems with high commercialization potential, economic impact, and the ability to solve social issues.

Pre-registration for participating teams will be conducted through the ‘Competition Platform’ from the 17th to the 31st of this month, and the main registration will be from the 7th to the 11th of next month. Final participation decisions and problem selections can be made during the main registration period. The competition will be held online from the 21st of next month to July 2nd. After the competition, in July, the top 1st to 4th place teams for each problem will be comprehensively evaluated based on competition results and commercialization potential to select support recipients, and commercialization support will begin in August.

Song Kyung-hee, Director of AI Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Through this competition, we plan to create an environment where prospective entrepreneurs and SMEs and venture companies with excellent technical skills can challenge the commercialization of AI technology and services.”

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