Selected '21 Research Topics' to be Promoted by Mobilizing National Capabilities

Global TOP Strategic Research Groups Begin In-Depth Evaluation and Supplementary Consulting

Twenty-one research topics, including the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials' 'Autonomous Growth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Humanoid Strategic Research,' have been selected as candidate topics to promote research and development by consolidating national capabilities.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Science and Technology Council (NST) announced that a total of 21 proposals were selected as a result of the evaluation of proposals for the 2025 'Global TOP Strategic Research Group Support Project,' and that a public announcement of the research and development plan will be made on the 20th to conduct in-depth evaluation and consulting on the selected research missions.

Provided by the Ministry of Science and ICT

Sixty-three evaluators, including members of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council, Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) of companies, lead researchers, and executives of academic societies by technical field from industry, academia, and research institutes, participated in the proposal evaluation held over three days from the 11th to the 13th.

The evaluators reviewed a total of 77 proposals, including 32 national strategic type and 45 future challenge type proposals, and selected 21 candidate topics by assessing the national necessity and excellence of the research topics, the public perceptibility of the outcomes, and the innovativeness of the execution system based on evaluation indicators classified by detailed types (national strategic type, future challenge type) starting this year.

The evaluators stated, "The selected projects this time are not merely for research purposes but aim for clear outcomes, so large-scale achievements that the public can feel in five years can be created," and added, "We hope that national research institutes will quickly solve national technological challenges and create technologies that will surprise the world."

With the announcement of the research and development plan on this day, the selected projects will proceed sequentially through procedures for establishing detailed research and development plans and conducting in-depth evaluation and supplementation.

Hwang Pan-sik, Director of the Research and Development Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Through the upcoming research and development plan evaluation stages, we will do our best to create innovative research groups that can enhance national competitiveness amid the global technology hegemony competition."

Kim Young-sik, Director of NST, stated, "We will clearly evaluate the plans for utilizing research results to create a healthy ecosystem where R&D and commercialization form a virtuous cycle," and added, "Through this, we will contribute to realizing a human-centered society through complete scientific and technological innovation."

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