The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to roughly double next year's budget for related programmes to expand field deployment of disaster and accident response technologies.

The ministry said on Oct. 26 it will solicit new projects for 2027 under the "Support for Field Deployment of Disaster and Accident Response Technologies Using Professional Technicians (EXPERT)" programme.

The EXPERT programme is an R&D project that verifies technologies developed in the disaster safety field at actual disaster sites and links them to commercialisation and wider on-site adoption. The 2027 budget, based on the government's proposal, is 5.1 billion won, about double this year.

New projects will be pursued in 3 types: technology linkage, new-technology application, and building an AI-based disaster safety demand and technology matching platform.

The technology linkage type is a one-year programme that supports field application of core technologies already developed by industry, academia and research institutes. It will solicit proposals for 9 items, including fires involving eco-friendly vehicles, urban flooding caused by abnormal weather, AI rapid-exploration mobility, bridge structural risk and sinkholes. A new project was added on risks in demolition processes for ageing facilities raised during the dismantling of the Seosomun overpass.

The new-technology application type is a two-year programme that supports development and dissemination of technologies needed at disaster sites. It will accept applications on open topics in 5 areas: response to natural disasters, prevention of industrial accidents, ensuring everyday safety, complex and special disasters, and other future responses. The ministry plans to assess whether actual demand-side users are secured and whether field demonstration is feasible, along with the technology's level of challenge.

The AI-based disaster safety demand and technology matching platform project aims to connect needs at disaster safety sites with response technologies. It will support development of an AI matching algorithm and platform and building a database, and it will also conduct pilot demonstrations to verify the feasibility of technical solutions.

Applications for new projects will be accepted until Nov. 27. After a document review and first- and second-round evaluations, final selections will be announced at the end of January next year.

An MSIT official said, "As this is a project led by professional engineers who are top engineers at industrial sites, we hope the developed technologies will be quickly used at actual disaster and accident sites and contribute to public safety."