The Public Procurement Service has significantly increased next year's budget for pilot purchases of innovative products. The expanded budget will be used to support the transition to a leading economy by linking it with key policies related to innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).
On December 18, the Public Procurement Service announced the "2026 Basic Plan for Pilot Purchases of Innovative Products." The basic plan was finalized on the same day through the Procurement Policy Deliberation Committee.
According to the basic plan, the budget for pilot purchases of innovative products will increase 2.7 times from 31 billion won this year to 83.9 billion won next year. The Public Procurement Service plans to focus the increased budget on technology-leading sectors such as AI, citizen-oriented service sectors, and areas of social responsibility. In addition, it will further support the global expansion of innovative companies.
Support for technology-leading sectors will focus on pilot purchases of AI convergence products such as robots, drones, and smart factories; AI-based digital services; the development of early markets for public AI in welfare, employment, tax management, and new drug screening; and the expansion of pilot purchases for ultra-innovative technology products such as successful R&D outcomes, K-Bio, and materials, components, and equipment products.
In particular, AI products that are commonly applied to administrative tasks such as civil complaint handling and report writing will be directly purchased by the Public Procurement Service and provided for use by public institutions, thereby promoting the spread of public sector AI led by the Public Procurement Service.
Improvements in citizen-oriented services will be achieved by expanding purchases of innovative products proposed and discovered by citizens to address everyday inconveniences and in fields such as disaster and crime response, as well as products discovered through AI support initiatives like AX-Sprint 300, and safety equipment and disaster prevention and response products.
To expand social responsibility, the Public Procurement Service will work with local governments, regional technoparks, and R&D special zones to discover and commercialize regionally specialized industries as innovative products, thereby revitalizing local ventures and startups. In addition, greater emphasis will be placed on laying the foundation for sustainable development by supporting carbon neutrality, the circular economy, and climate tech.
In particular, next year’s budget for export-oriented pilot purchase projects will be increased to 20 billion won (up from 14 billion won this year) to intensively support sectors with high recognition and competitiveness overseas, such as medical, bio, and smart farms. The agency will also implement strategies to maximize export performance by giving preference to institutions planning additional local adoption, thereby facilitating the global expansion of domestic companies.
Furthermore, the Public Procurement Service plans to strengthen the pilot purchase innovation ecosystem by giving preference to public institutions that purchase innovative products on their own or have additional purchase plans, and by offering second-chance opportunities for products with insufficient performance.
The agency will also distinguish pilot purchase outcomes in terms of corporate growth and pilot purchase relevance, compare and analyze these aspects, and operate a performance-centered management system to ensure that innovative products are properly managed and utilized even after pilot use.
Baek Seungbo, Commissioner of the Public Procurement Service, stated, "Pilot purchases of innovative products serve as a catalyst for the expansion of public procurement and have a significant ripple effect. The Public Procurement Service will faithfully support the transition to a leading economy by expanding the scale of next year's pilot purchase projects and linking them to key policies such as the AI transformation and ultra-innovative economy."
He added, "We also plan to focus the agency's capabilities on successfully promoting public procurement reform by spreading the achievements of innovative procurement and expanding social responsibility."
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