Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
IITP kicks off 2025 ICT R&D projects for AI, digital transformation
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By Nam Hyun-woo
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) said Sunday that they selected institutions to carry out 140 R&D projects as part of the first-round selection for Korea’s national ICT R&D initiatives this year.
According to the IITP, it has selected a total of 610 institutions and their contract research labs to carry out projects worth 164.3 billion won ($114.57 million).
These are part of 1.32 trillion won of the country’s total budget for ICT R&D initiatives, which is up 12.9 percent year-on-year. The IITP said that those initiatives will focus on key areas aimed at advancing Korea’s goal of becoming one of the world’s top three artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouses through securing game-changing technologies, leading innovation in digital infrastructure and accelerating AI-driven digital transformation.
For R&D for human-centric exploratory AI services, 10 projects have been selected to conduct preliminary research on R&D methodologies for artificial general intelligence in key strategic areas. After offering 3.75 billion won this year, the government plans to narrow them through a competitive evaluation process and continue support for follow-up research.
Separately, the government will allocate 7.95 billion won to support the development of core AI safety technologies aimed at mitigating or eliminating the existential and potential risks posed by advanced AI systems with high performance, diversity and autonomy.
For AI infrastructure, the government plans to spend 36.62 billion won to secure competitiveness in cloud computing technology using AI semiconductors through building and operating data centers powered by domestically developed accelerators.
For quantum computing, the government allocated 6 billion won to support the localization of optical materials and components for quantum communication, as well as the development of quantum precision measurement methodologies.
The Ministry of Science and ICT in Sejong / Korea Times file
To spur digital transformation, the IITP said it also selected a handful of cybersecurity, programmable media and open-end digital transformation projects.
By putting in a total of 7.6 billion won, the government will support the development of technologies to proactively counter emerging cybersecurity threats by exploiting generative AI and cloud computing. This includes preventing data leakage from on-device AI models and developing threat detection and response technologies for maritime cyberattacks.
To accelerate AI transformation in broadcasting and content industries, the government will allocate 3 billion won to enhance technologies for “programmable media” that enables preemptive visualization of scripts, automatic creation of digital humans and easy modification and reconstruction of broadcast video.
In addition, 7.3 billion won will be invested in projects related to digital convergence and early detection of voice phishing.
“Achieving the goal of becoming one of the world’s top three AI powers will depend on technological innovation from our industry, academia and research communities,” a science ministry official said. “We will proactively support industries to facilitate groundbreaking R&D outcomes and to establish an ecosystem that enables the successful commercialization of technologies.”