Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds Manufacturing AI Solution Pitching Day... Grand Prizes Awarded to DoubleT and SIZL

Excellence Awards Go to SolverX and PuzzleData

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 10th that it hosted the "1st Manufacturing AI Solution Pitching Day" at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to promote the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by small and medium-sized manufacturing companies and to expand the foundation for the dissemination of market-friendly manufacturing AI solutions.

Noh Yongseok, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is taking a commemorative photo with the winners of the Manufacturing AI Solution Contest at the 'Manufacturing Artificial Intelligence Solution Pitching Day' held on the 10th at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Ministry of SMEs and Startups

This event was held in conjunction with "COMEUP 2025," the largest global startup festival in Korea. Approximately 150 participants attended, including representatives from manufacturing AI solution development companies, manufacturing firms, university students majoring in smart manufacturing, the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Group, and officials from regional Smart Manufacturing Innovation Centers (TPs).

In October, the Ministry conducted a public contest to discover solutions that apply AI technology across all business activities of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies, from product planning and design to manufacturing processes, procurement and logistics, and business support. A total of 152 solutions were submitted, with 86 companies in the startup category and 66 companies in the global and growth category, resulting in a highly competitive ratio of 38 to 1 for the four solutions to be ultimately selected.

The selection process consisted of three stages. In the first stage, a document review was conducted to evaluate the innovativeness of ideas and their applicability in the field, narrowing the pool to 101 solutions. In the second stage, an in-person evaluation focused on technology demonstrations and commercialization potential, selecting 20 solutions.

At the final round, Pitching Day, the top 10 companies from the startup and global/growth categories that passed the first and second evaluations competed in a heated contest. Rankings were determined by combining the scores from professional judges (70%) and audience evaluations composed of representatives from small and medium-sized manufacturing companies (30%). Ultimately, four outstanding solutions were selected, including the grand prize and excellence award in each of the two categories.

The grand prize in the startup category went to DoubleT, while the global/growth category grand prize was awarded to SIZL. DoubleT's "HAIMDALL Industrial Safety AI" is an AI-based industrial accident prevention system that provides real-time alerts through high-precision location tracking and AI risk pattern analysis. SIZL's "SIZL Agentic Manufacturing AI Copilot" offers a persistent manufacturing consulting agent powered by AI, handling everything from problem diagnosis to improvement suggestions and execution tracking, thereby reducing consulting costs and improving analysis speed. The excellence awards went to SolverX for its "AI Solver," a Physics AI-based analysis and simulation solution, and to PuzzleData for "ProDiscovery," an AI process mining-based smart factory operation innovation platform.

The four companies selected as the final outstanding solutions received commendations from the Minister of SMEs and Startups, with prize money awarded to the grand prize winners. Meanwhile, the 101 solutions that passed the first evaluation were included in a promotional booklet, visualized in the form of a market map. The top 20 solutions from the second evaluation will receive various promotional support, such as the production of YouTube short-form videos, and will also be recommended as candidate companies for next year’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups Next Unicorn Project, providing opportunities for investment attraction.

The outstanding solutions validated for innovation and field applicability through this contest will serve as key drivers for the Ministry’s "AI-Based Smart Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 Strategy." These solutions will be given priority placement at the top of the smart factory business management system and private cloud platform marketplaces, making it easier for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies to search for and select them. Additionally, in next year’s smart factory dissemination project, extra points (three points) will be awarded for AI utilization tasks (such as the Autonomous Factory AI Track), increasing the likelihood of selection.

Vice Minister Noh Yongseok stated, "I am pleased that this Pitching Day has strengthened the capabilities of smart manufacturing technology companies and led to the discovery of many AI solutions that can be applied to small manufacturing sites. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will continue to support small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in leveraging AI technology to improve productivity and realize an eco-friendly, worker-friendly future manufacturing environment."

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