Recruitment for Participants in the 'Open Software Developer Competition'... Total Prize Money 72 Million Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT is recruiting participants for the '2021 Open Source Software (SW) Developer Competition' from the 23rd to July 23rd.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 22nd, this year's competition, marking its 15th edition, aims to foster creative open source software developers and will select a total of 26 teams. The total prize money this year has increased to 72 million KRW, up from last year's 53 million KRW awarded to 22 teams. The grand prize winner will receive the Minister of Science and ICT Award.

Anyone interested in open source software can participate. Participants will be provided with online education and mentoring to enhance their open source software development skills and improve the completeness of their submissions, as in previous years.

The online education is designed for non-SW majors, university students, the general public, and developers new to open source software, offering basic open source software courses and advanced courses by technology. Participants will study the provided educational materials and submit their works by September 9th after autonomous development. About 50 finalists will be selected through the first round of judging.

Finalists will receive a one-month intensive mentoring period to improve their development skills and refine their submissions. Afterward, the final winners will be selected through the second round of judging.

The theme (AI) includes free topics in new technology fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud, and Internet of Things, as well as tasks designated by open source software companies. This year, a new designated task category has been added to address social issues such as consideration for socially vulnerable groups, environmental protection, and infectious disease response.

If a competition winner wishes to start a business, they can receive support such as startup education and commercialization consulting from the National IT Industry Promotion Agency. Inquiries can be made to the '2021 Open Source Software Developer Competition' operation office and via KakaoTalk (Open Source Software Developer Competition).

Park Yoon-kyu, Director of the Information and Communication Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “Most software, including new technology fields such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data, is currently developed using open source software, making it a key factor determining the competitiveness of products and services. Through this competition, we will actively support nurturing creative open source software developers who will lead the post-COVID-19 era, expanding the base of open source software development and participation culture and revitalizing the related ecosystem.”

Meanwhile, on the 17th, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced the ‘SW Ecosystem Innovation Strategy,’ which includes fostering advanced open source software developers, supporting private sector excellent open source software project technology development and commercialization, and discovering business models for open source software companies.

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