"Recruiting Startups to Discover AI Solutions Using Public Data"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Launches 'OpenData X AI Challenge'
Three Institutions Present Challenges: KOSME, ATMA, and TIPA
Finalists to Receive PoC Funding and Showcase Opportunities

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on October 27 that it is recruiting startups to participate in the 'OpenData X AI Challenge,' a competition that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to solve challenges presented by public institutions.

This contest aims to discover AI solutions that can provide practical benefits to people's daily lives by granting AI startups access to real-world data used by public institutions.

The organizations presenting the challenges are the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, the Agency for Traditional Market Administration, and the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs-three institutions in total. Each institution has submitted a challenge in one of three areas: predicting the growth and risks of SMEs, providing customized consulting for small business owners, and recommending support programs based on an integrated platform for SMEs. These institutions will provide their high-quality data to the participating startups.

The competition will proceed in three stages: document review, finals, and an AI Startup Showcase. Based on the submitted business plans, 15 startups will be selected in early December. The finals will begin with the opening ceremony of 'COMEUP 2025' on December 10 and continue until the end of January next year. To support development, each team will receive 10 million won in Proof of Concept (PoC) funding.

Afterward, the performance of the AI models will be evaluated through both model accuracy and completeness assessments, as well as the potential for further development. Additionally, feedback from small business owners and SME users who directly test the models will be taken into account. Based on these results, a winning team and a runner-up will be chosen for each challenge.

The six startups selected as winners and runners-up will present and demonstrate their developed AI models at the 'AI Startup Showcase' scheduled for early February next year. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is considering awarding extra points to the winning companies when selecting participants for SME support programs, such as startup support, loans and guarantees, and research and development (R&D).

Applications will be accepted from November 6 to November 26. An information session will be held on the first day, November 6. More details can be found on the K-Startup Startup Support Portal or the Ministry of SMEs and Startups website.

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