Recruitment of Trainees for Startup AI Talent Development Program

Providing AI Specialized Education and Startup-Linked Projects

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 21st that it is recruiting trainees for the '2024 Startup AI Technical Workforce Training Project (Eodream School)', which cultivates development personnel in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The 'Startup AI Technical Workforce Training Project' has been operating since 2021 to support venture and startup companies struggling to secure AI developers. Outstanding young talents are selected and provided with 8 hours of daily, 5 days a week education for 10 months, offering free AI education, startup-linked projects, and employment and entrepreneurship linkage programs.

Applicants must be young people aged 39 or younger, with 200 selected this year. The program recruits 100 trainees for the 'in-person course' held at an education center near Hongdae, Seoul, and 100 for the 'online course' which delivers the same content remotely. Notably, 50% of the quota for the 'online course' is preferentially allocated to young people residing in non-metropolitan areas.

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Applications will close by the 26th of next month, followed by evaluations including interviews. Successful candidates will be announced in mid-March, and the training course will commence after the end of March. Over the past three years, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has continuously improved the curriculum to effectively train AI developers, primarily targeting young talents without a major in the field. Now entering its fourth year, the program plans to strengthen job-specific specialized courses and employment linkage programs to reflect the diverse needs of prospective young developers.

Starting this year, an internship program linked with startup support projects such as the Youth Startup Academy and IT-related associations and organizations has been newly established. Using the 'Corporate Workforce Difficulty Center,' job matching and employment consulting support will be provided for one year after completion. Lim Jeong-wook, Director of the Startup Venture Innovation Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “In response to the rapidly changing AI environment, we will continuously improve the curriculum by collecting field feedback from startups and trainees to cultivate excellent developers.”