Ministry of Science and ICT Selects 40 Teams for 'AI Online Competition'... 6 Billion KRW Support for 20 Teams

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 12th that it selected 40 teams in this year's 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) Online Competition' and made the results public through the homepage of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency.

This competition aims to expand the base of AI technology and select promising entrepreneurs, small and venture companies with excellent algorithm development capabilities, providing opportunities for AI technology-based commercialization. A total of 402 teams (878 participants) took part in the online competition from the 21st of last month to the 2nd of this month.

The competition problems consisted of a total of 10 questions using AI training data open on 'AI Hub (aihub.or.kr)': 4 image problems, 3 natural language problems, and 3 numerical analysis problems. Participating teams chose one problem among the 10, developed an AI model to solve it, and submitted their results to compete with other teams in AI technology. After verification, excellent teams ranked 1st to 4th for each problem (a total of 40 teams) were selected, and they will be given opportunities to participate in follow-up commercialization support projects.

Additionally, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency will finally select a total of 20 teams: 8 in the image field, 6 in the natural language field, and 6 in the numerical analysis field, providing up to 300 million KRW per team for commercialization. The 1st and 2nd place teams in each field will be awarded the Minister of Science and ICT Award and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency Award.

Song Kyung-hee, Director of AI-based Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “This competition reaffirmed the high interest of students, prospective entrepreneurs, and developers in AI technology contests. We will further develop the AI online competition to become a platform and gateway to discover prospective entrepreneurs and small and venture companies with technological capabilities and commercialization potential.”