NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR AI

인공지능 국가전략

Start date :2020

End date :

Name of responsible governmental body :

Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT;과학기술정보통신부)

Description :

With the vision of “Going beyond an IT superpower to an AI superpower,” Korean ministries joined hands to establish the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which includes Korea’s vision and strategy for the era of AI.

Objectives:

To rank third in terms of global digital competitiveness by 2030.
To create 455 trillion Korean won of economic surplus through AI.
To enter the top ten countries in terms of quality of life.

OECD AI principle adressed:

Inclusive growth, sustainable development and well-being
Human-centred values and fairness
Transparency and explainability
Robustness, security and safety
Accountability
Investing in AI R&D
Fostering a digital ecosystem for AI
Providing an enabling policy environment for AI
Building human capacity and preparing for labour market transition
International co-operation for trustworthy AI

Relevant policy area covered:

Digital economy
Innovation
Social and welfare issues

Related to a theme:

National AI policies

Estimated budget expenditure (range per year):

More than 500M

Background including shifts in the policy initiative:

While machines replaced manual labour of humans during the industrialization in the past, artificial intelligence now is developing beyond automation to a level that can perform intelligent tasks that could only be done by humans. As AI is causing a paradigm shift not only in terms of technology but one that encompasses all sectors including humanities, Korea is preparing for the shift on national and social levels.

Policy initiative is a structural reform:

Evaluated:

Link to evaluation or reports:

Public access URL:

Funding from the private sector:

Type of evaluation:

Evaluation provides input to:

Evaluation performed by:

Policy instruments :

National strategies, agendas and plans

Type : National strategies, agendas and plans
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Public access URL : https://english.msit.go.kr/eng/bbs/view.do?sCode=eng&mId=10&mPid=9&bbsSeqNo=46&nttSeqNo=9
Strategy mainly prioritises : AI policy governance (e.g. vertical and horizontal coordination, evaluation) | Business innovation and innovative entrepreneurship | Access to finance for innovation (e.g. venture capital, business angels, financial markets) | Public research capabilities | Education and skills | Technology transfers and commercialisation | Specific areas/sectors (e.g. new industrial policy, R&D targets for clean tech) | Clusters and regional support (including regional/local R&D investments) | Societal challenges (e.g. social inclusiveness); environmental challenges (e.g. sustainability) | International cooperation on STI | R&D intensity (e.g. GERD as a % of GDP) | Connectivity and digitalisation
- Quantifiable target, Deadline : Societal challenges (e.g. social inclusiveness); environmental challenges (e.g. sustainability): “Energy”, “Environment”
Societal challenge(s) emphasised : Health | Ageing populations | Inclusiveness (e.g. inequality, job insecurity) | Food security | Energy security | Climate change | Environmental sustainability
Implementation mechanism : Action plan | Periodic monitoring and/or evaluation of progress

Project grants for public research

Type : Project grants for public research
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Maximum grant duration : More than 36 months
Maximum amount of grant awarded in euros : More than 1M
Type of activity : Basic research | Applied research | Experimental development | Multidisciplinary research | Demonstration / testing
Requires a form of collaboration : With other higher education institutes or public research institutes | With industry partners | With international partners | With users of research outputs (e.g. technology, innovation)
Selection criteria : Track record of applicant | Scientific impact anticipated | Societal impact anticipated | Commercial impact anticipated | Social inclusion in research (e.g. women and other under-represented groups) | Alignment with national research priorities
Type(s) of proposal screening : Internal: review by grant manager (e.g. funding agency) | External peer review: including members of the scientific community | External peer review: including business society representatives | External peer review: including research users and stakeholders
Success rate (share of grants awarded as a % of total applications) : 40% or higher

Grants for business R&D and innovation

Type : Grants for business R&D and innovation
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Maximum grant duration : More than 36 months
Maximum amount of grant awarded in euros : More than 1M
Type of activity : Basic research | Applied research | Experimental development | Non-technological innovation | Demonstration / testing
Requires a form of collaboration : With higher education institutes or public research institutes | With industry partners | With international partners | With SMEs | With intermediaries (e.g. accelerators) | With users of R&D or innovation outputs
Selection criteria : Track record of applicant | Feasibility of project | Anticipated return on investment | Societal impact anticipated | Social inclusion (e.g. women and other under-represented groups) | Alignment with national strategic priorities (e.g. targeted business sectors and technologies)
Contribution (e.g. matching funds) required from beneficiary : Yes

Centres of excellence grants

Type : Centres of excellence grants
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Maximum duration of funding for individual unit/centre : 6-10 years
Share of public funding (as a % of total funding of the centre of excellence) : 70-89%
Focus : Field of science | Key technology (basic research) | Key technology (commercial applications) | Societal challenge(s) | Sharing equipment and infrastructures (e.g. access to AI computing infrastructure)
Criteria for funding : Alignment to national research priorities | Societal impact anticipated | Result of a national performance-based assessment | Novelty of research or its application | Existing research capacity | Scientific impact anticipated | Commercial impact anticipated
Requires a form of collaborative research : Science-industry | Industry-industry | Science-science
Ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) stemming from science-industry research : Some IP owned exclusively by the public sector | Some IP owned exclusively by the private sector | Some IP co-owned between public and private actors
Penalties and rewards associated to performance : Bonuses and incentives

Procurement programmes for AI R&D and innovation

Type : Procurement programmes for AI R&D and innovation
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Type of programme : Improving the capacity and competence of the AI procurement process
R&D/innovation objective(s) : Create demand for technology or innovative products and services | Promote specific research priorities
Programme focus : Support innovative SMEs | Strategic business sector | Strategic technology | Societal challenges | Public sector innovation | Promote science-industry cooperation

Fellowships and postgraduate loans and scholarships

Type : Fellowships and postgraduate loans and scholarships
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Type of financial assistance : Non-repayable
Type of individual sponsored : Master student | Doctoral student | Post-doctoral researcher | Established researcher
Promotes international mobility of students and researchers : Both outgoing and incoming
Promotes intersectoral mobility (e.g. between the academic and private sectors) : From academia to the private sector | From the private sector to academia

Equity financing

Type : Equity financing
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Type of financing : Seed capital (early stage)
Mechanism(s) : Fund
Type of fund : None
Focus : Support access to international markets | Foster public research spin-offs | Social entrepreneurship | Support innovative start-ups and SMEs

Networking and collaborative platforms

Type : Networking and collaborative platforms
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Focus : Business innovation-oriented | Technology-oriented | Geographic clustering | Research-oriented | Education-oriented
Share of the platform's funding coming from the private sector (as a % of total funding) : 0%
Exchanges take place via : Meetings and events | Sharing infrastructures or facilities
Objective(s) : Promote business partnerships (e.g. consortia-building) | Foster fundraising and investor networking | Promote economic growth (e.g. productivity, competitiveness) | Promote research partnerships
Ownership of IP stemming from science-industry research : Some IP owned exclusively by the public sector | Some IP owned exclusively by the private sector | Some IP co-owned between public and private actors

AI computing and research infrastructure

Type : AI computing and research infrastructure
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Main focus of support : National infrastructure(s)
Objective(s) : Address national research priorities | Foster science-industry collaboration | Address societal or environmental challenges | Promote regional or cluster policy
Funding used for : Acquiring major computing equipment | Building new facilities | Renewing or modernising existing facilities | Increasing user access to AI-enabling infrastructure | Gaining access to existing international AI-enabling infrastructures | Hiring research and technical staff | Training research and technical staff | Building knowledge repositories of scientific data and archives | Building computing systems and virtual infrastructures

Data access and sharing

Type : Data access and sharing
Name in English :
Country : Korea

Knowledge transfers and business advisory services

Type : Knowledge transfers and business advisory services
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Services provided by : Higher education institutes | Public research institutes | Public body from national government | Public body from regional or local government | Private consultants and business experts | Intermediaries (e.g. technology transfer offices, incubators)
Modality : Consultancy | Training | Networking with investors, clients, suppliers, etc.
Type of advisory service : Intellectual property protection (e.g. filing and litigation) | Intellectual property commercialisation (e.g. licensing and royalty agreements) | Support the adoption of existing technologies | Support to business plan preparations | Marketing (including market research) | Quality management and process efficiency | Human resource development | Product development | Implement technology best practices or support meeting national or international standards

Emerging AI-related regulation

Type : Emerging AI-related regulation
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Role of government : Market regulator (e.g. antitrust law) | Technology/innovation enabler (e.g. interoperability standards) | Risk mitigation (e.g. consumer and social protection) | Deliverer of public services (e.g. requirements in procurement, education) | Protector of public values
Challenge(s) addressed : Risks to human safety (e.g. prevention of physical and mental harm) | Data protection and right to privacy | Social disruption (e.g. job insecurity) | Risks to fairness (e.g. non-discrimination, gender equality, fairness and diversity) | Market concentration (e.g. monopolies, oligopolies)
Type(s) of regulation : Formal domestic law or regulation | Self-regulation (e.g. codes of conduct, guidelines, standards) | Regulatory experiments (e.g. sandboxes)
Regulatory approach : Technology-based regulation (e.g. moratoria, bans, standards of use)
Level of governance : National
Approach to monitor compliance : The regulator develops and maintains technologies for data collection, transmission and/or analytics to monitor compliance

Labour mobility regulation and incentives

Type : Labour mobility regulation and incentives
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Type of mobility : Intersectoral (public to private sector or vice-versa) | International | Within country
Programme objective(s) : Promote international knowledge flows | Attract foreign talent | Build industry-science linkages | Promote research excellence | Improve performance of host institutes/firms
Mechanism : Service or information (e.g. web portal) | Economic (e.g. salary subsidy) | Networking (e.g. coordinating staff exchange)
Portion of salary subsidised by the instrument : 40-80%
Average duration of salary subsidy : More than 18 months
Screening scheme : Hybrid (government and employer)
Intended mobility destination : Higher education institutes | Public research institutes | Private research and development labs | Firms

Emerging AI-related regulation

Type : Emerging AI-related regulation
Name in English :
Country : Korea

Science and innovation challenges, prizes and awards

Type : Science and innovation challenges, prizes and awards
Name in English :
Country : Korea
Selection type : Ex-post (based on a scientific achievement or developed innovation)
Type of challenge : Health | Ageing population | Social inclusion | Food security | Energy security | Climate change | Research challenge, i.e. centred on a specific domain of science or technology | Business challenge, i.e. centred on a specific market need
Type of reward : Monetary | Exposure to a network of investors | Provision of business innovation and technology advice | Honorific (e.g. label, recognition)

Public consultations of stakeholders or experts

Type : Public consultations of stakeholders or experts
Name in English :
Country : Korea

Last updated : Jul 5, 2024