Science and ICT Professionals Gather for New Year's Event

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that Prime Minister Kim Minseok and Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyunghoon attended the 2026 New Year’s Gathering for Science and Technology Professionals and Information and Communications Professionals, held on January 14 at the Korea Science and Technology Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

This gathering, co-hosted by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies and the Korea Federation of Information and Communication, was themed "A Great Leap Forward for Korea Through Science, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)." The event brought together more than 600 participants, including academics, researchers, and business representatives.

Ministry of Science and ICT Logo

This year’s New Year’s gathering was planned differently from previous years as an event "together with the public." The organizers arranged a communication session with the general public, collecting New Year’s wishes in advance from citizens. Based on these submissions, experts in each field answered selected questions from citizen representatives on site, sharing their aspirations for the new year.

Vice Prime Minister Bae Kyunghoon stated, "The year 2026 will mark the beginning of Korea’s leap toward becoming a bigger and stronger nation through the power of science, technology, and information and communications. We will do our utmost to unite the capabilities of all ministries so that Korea can rise as a science and technology powerhouse that no one can challenge."

Meanwhile, the "New Year’s Gathering for Science and Technology Professionals and Information and Communications Professionals" has been held as a combined event since 2014, merging what were previously two separate New Year’s gatherings for each field.