ICT Smart Device Contest Held... Total Prize Money 50 Million Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it will hold the '2021 ICT Smart Device National Contest - Subtitle: Discovering Non-face-to-face Services and Devices' to lead innovative technologies in the 5G and non-face-to-face era.

This contest, now in its 8th year, is an event that discovers innovative ideas in the smart device field every year and supports product development. So far, over 2,500 ideas have been discovered, among which about 80 have led to startups and approximately 20 billion KRW in investment attraction.

Applications can be submitted from the 23rd until August 4th on the Digital Open Lab contest dedicated website. Middle and high school students, university (graduate) students, prospective entrepreneurs, and individuals can apply in the 'General Category,' while small and medium enterprises, venture companies, and startups (early-stage companies) can apply in the 'Corporate Category.'

The selection process consists of regional preliminaries and finals. The regional preliminaries will be conducted as integrated non-face-to-face evaluations from August 9th to 13th for applicants in six regions nationwide where Digital Open Labs and ICT Device Labs operate (Pangyo, Daegu, Incheon, Yongin, Jeonju, Chungbuk).

A total of 30 teams (18 teams in the corporate category, 12 teams in the general category) will be selected, and they will receive device production support funds for final preparation, along with four weeks of expert mentoring and access to 3D printing equipment at each regional lab.

The final evaluation will be held in September for the 30 teams that passed the regional preliminaries. Fourteen teams will be selected as award candidates, and the top six teams will advance to the final round.

The 14 final selected teams, including companies and individuals, will receive certificates and a total prize of 50 million KRW. Two grand prize teams will be awarded the Minister of Science and ICT Award and prize money (15 million KRW for companies, 10 million KRW for individuals), four excellence award teams will receive the President of the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation Award and prize money (5 million KRW for companies, 2.5 million KRW for individuals), and eight encouragement award teams will be given certificates and prize money (1.5 million KRW for companies, 1 million KRW for individuals).

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to support practical business networking and global expansion by providing opportunities for excellent devices to participate in domestic and international ICT exhibitions such as the Mobile World Congress (MWC), ensuring that contest results can be linked to commercialization. Starting this year, teams advancing to the finals will also be given priority support to obtain the ‘ICT Convergence Product Quality Certification.’

Lee Seungwon, Director of the Information and Communications Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Through this contest, we plan to actively support the creation of tangible outcomes that the public can experience by turning ideas for non-face-to-face transition products into startups and investment attraction.”

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