Ministry of Science and ICT Holds '2021 Artificial Intelligence Graduate School Symposium'

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced on the 3rd that it held the '2021 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Graduate School Symposium.'

This event was organized to share the operational achievements of AI graduate schools and discuss future development directions. It was hosted by MSIT and co-organized by three institutions: the AI Graduate School Council, AI Innovation Hub, and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP). The symposium, held under the theme "AI Graduate Schools with Korea's Digital New Deal," consisted of a keynote speech, panel discussions, presentations on AI graduate school program cooperation cases and outstanding achievements, and an exhibition of results.

The keynote speech was delivered by Simon Ullman, a leading international scholar in AI and head of the AI Center at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who presented on "AI Models Interpreting Scenes Like Humans." During the panel discussion, experts from industry and academia discussed cooperation methods to expand each university's research achievements into industry and promote startups, focusing on "Industry-Academia Cooperation and Startups for the AI Ecosystem." Additionally, the symposium introduced major research achievements, industry-academia cooperation, and the excellence of AI graduate school programs in human resource development.

Park Yoon-kyu, Director of the Information and Communications Policy Office at MSIT, stated, "I hope this symposium serves as an opportunity for academia and industry to share and disseminate accumulated research experience and achievements and to collaborate closely. The government will also provide policy support such as building AI training data and infrastructure to foster leading AI research and excellent talent."

Since 2019, the government has been operating AI graduate school programs to cultivate world-class AI experts, currently running 10 AI graduate schools and 4 AI Convergence Research Centers.