On October 28, 2024, the 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Project Agreement Ceremony' is being held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will select about 30 AI specialized companies to participate in the 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing' project by early next year. On the 10th, the ministry held the 'AI Autonomous Manufacturing Networking Day' event at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul to explain the support system for AI transformation projects in manufacturing sites.
The ministry plans to create a directory of ‘AI Autonomous Manufacturing Specialized Companies’ by early next year. The directory will be prepared through surveys conducted by research institutions such as the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, as well as academia, experts, and industry. The ministry plans to select up to 10 companies in each of three fields?AI solutions, robotics, and system integration (SI)?totaling no more than 30 companies.
These specialized companies will be given opportunities to participate in the ‘AI Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Projects.’ The AI Autonomous Manufacturing Leading Projects are initiatives where the ministry provides research and development (R&D) funding, financial support, and consulting to improve manufacturing processes using AI. Starting with 26 projects this year, the plan is to expand to 200 projects by 2027.
This year’s projects saw significant participation from leading Korean manufacturing companies such as Hyundai Motor Company, GS Caltex, Samsung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Mipo, POSCO, EcoPro, Korean Air, Kolon, DN Solutions, and Sampyo Cement.
Future selections for leading projects will consider whether specialized companies participate as part of the evaluation. AI specialized companies can also participate in the ‘AI Autonomous Manufacturing Mini Projects,’ which will be supported for a one-year period starting next year.
AI specialized companies can also take part in developing the ‘Manufacturing AI Foundation Model.’ A foundation model refers to a large-scale AI model trained on extensive data to learn knowledge and patterns, similar to OpenAI’s GPT. The ministry, along with research institutions such as the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and Korea Electronics Technology Institute, plans to invest a total of 10 billion KRW starting this year to develop the manufacturing foundation model and distribute it to manufacturing sites from 2026.
The ministry stated, "AI autonomous manufacturing is becoming a future survival strategy, not a choice, for our companies," and added, "We will provide policy support to successfully spread AI autonomous manufacturing and strengthen the technological capabilities and competencies of AI specialized companies."
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