South Korea's National AI Strategy Committee said on Tuesday it held a "bio AX" meeting at Seoul Square in Seoul and discussed policy measures to foster an AI-bio convergence ecosystem.

The meeting presented the state of the domestic biotech startup ecosystem, directions for innovation in AI-based drug discovery, and the need to build robotics-based autonomous laboratories. In a general discussion, participants pointed to weak standardisation of research data, limits in managing the quality of bio data used for AI training, uncertainty in regulatory interpretations and a lack of access to experimental infrastructure for startups as key hurdles to a bio AI transformation (AX).

Participants agreed that an integrated ecosystem is needed in which data, experiments and manufacturing are organically linked, through steps including building national bio model infrastructure, expanding public bioboundries and providing strategic support for automated laboratories.

The committee said it plans to work with relevant ministries to flesh out detailed tasks in the process of drawing up a "2030 plan to leap into the world's top five AI-based bio and health powers" based on the meeting's discussions.

Im Moon-young (임문영), the committee's standing vice chair, said South Korea has the conditions to secure sufficient competitiveness in bio AX because it has both semiconductor and digital capabilities as well as a base for bio research.