Kakao selected 30 public innovation cases that used its services such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Map to boost administrative efficiency and public convenience. It will provide advertising support and AI education for the public sector to the selected organisations.

Kakao said on Sept. 9 it held the '2026 Kakao Public Innovation Awards' on Sept. 8 at the Nine Tree Premier ROKAUS Hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The event was held for the first time this year, with about 140 attendees including officials from 30 organisations such as central government ministries, local governments and public agencies, as well as Kakao officials.

Kakao identified candidate cases based on press releases and materials disclosed by each organisation through June 30, then selected the final winners after reviews by external experts. The evaluation was based on criteria including innovation, results, public value, scalability and sustainability.

The final selections span nine categories: easing administrative inconvenience, improving administrative efficiency, cutting budgets, public-private cooperation, responding to social problems, strengthening public safety, supporting vulnerable groups, providing local information and enhancing social sustainability. They include 10 central government bodies, 10 local governments, nine public agencies and one other organisation, for a total of 30.

Major cases include Chonnam National University Hospital Regional Maternal and Child Healthcare Center's 'hotline for maternal and child healthcare treatment cooperation organisations'. The approach uses a KakaoTalk group chat involving medical staff at partner institutions so they can check which hospitals can accept transfers when an emergency patient occurs.

Korea Electric Power Corp operates an 'electricity bill AI reassurance alert service' that combines AI with KakaoTalk Alert Talk messages. The service notifies customers in advance of the possibility of higher bills when their electricity use is expected to rise sharply.

The city of Busan provides location and operating information for 1,665 sites across 10 areas, including children's facilities, libraries, parks and community sports facilities, through a '15-minute city living map' linked to Kakao Map.

Kakao will provide winning organisations with advertising Biz Coupons worth a total of 300 million won. The coupons can be used for public communication such as Talk Channel messages. It also plans to run the 'KakaoTech Public Sector AI Class' to raise AI utilisation capabilities in the public sector.

At the event, Korea Electric Power Corp and the National Fire Agency presented major innovation cases, and Kakao introduced public administration cases using electronic documents and its public AI promotion strategy. Participants also discussed the direction of public-private cooperation for digital transformation and AI transformation in the public sector.

Chung Yeon-seung (정연승), head of the awards selection committee, said the panel analysed more than 100 public innovation cases using Kakao services and interviews with practitioners. He said it confirmed that the scope of service use is widening from alerts to authentication, payments and consultations, and that public innovation areas are also expanding to cyber security, disaster response and welfare.

Kakao plans to release the 'Kakao Public Innovation Report 2026', which will include the selected cases and public service innovation results, in late November. The report will be its third edition this year since it was first published in 2024.