Ministry of SMEs and Startups "Recruiting Startups to Collaborate with OpenAI"

Divided into 'API Application Areas' and 'Collaboration Areas'
Application Period: November 3?17

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 31st that it is recruiting startups to collaborate with OpenAI.

In June, the Ministry invited Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, to hold a public meeting. During the meeting, Minister Lee Young proposed a collaboration program to support startups with OpenAI, and CEO Altman accepted, leading to the promotion of this event.

Minister Lee Young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is having a conversation with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, at the 'K-Startups meet OpenAI' event held on June 9 at the 63 Building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The collaboration program is divided into two categories: the ‘API Utilization Field,’ which proposes new services using APIs or plugins of AI services developed by OpenAI, and the ‘Collaboration Field,’ which proposes new businesses through the convergence of AI technology with new industry technologies such as AI semiconductors, robots, and mobility.

In the API Utilization Field, developers, prospective entrepreneurs, and AI-related startups can all participate. Only AI-related startups can apply for the Collaboration Field. The application period is from the 3rd to the 17th of next month.

The Ministry will select a total of 40 teams in the first round through a document review: 20 teams in the API Utilization Field and 20 teams in the Collaboration Field. Then, on December 13-14, the K-Startup & OpenAI Matching Day will be held. On December 13, through an in-person evaluation with OpenAI executives, 7 teams per field, totaling 14 teams, will be selected to advance to the U.S. final event. The Ministry and OpenAI have agreed to hold preliminaries and finals in Korea and the U.S., respectively.

The 14 selected teams will visit OpenAI headquarters in the U.S. in the first half of next year. Networking opportunities with OpenAI developers will also be provided. Through this domestic event, OpenAI aims to discover startups with high collaboration potential and decide on final collaboration with these startups at the U.S. event next year.

Minister Lee said, “Going forward, the Ministry plans to actively support the commercialization and global expansion of promising AI startups through collaboration with OpenAI, and will continuously strive to help these startups grow into AI companies with global competitiveness.”

To increase startups’ understanding and interest in this event, an online pre-briefing session with OpenAI executives will be held at 9 a.m. on the 3rd. The briefing will be broadcast on the Ministry’s official YouTube channel. Information about the domestic preliminary event participants can be found on the K-Startup or Ministry of SMEs and Startups websites.

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