Deputy Prime Minister and Science and ICT Minister Baek Kyung-hoon has set the goal of realising an 'AI basic society' for the new year. He also aims to strengthen the foundations for science and technology innovation and focus on digital safety and balanced regional growth.
In a New Year address on Jan. 1, Baek said that last year the ministry re-established the framework for science and technology innovation and did its utmost to build a strategic foundation for a leap toward becoming an AI powerhouse. He said it secured the largest-ever R&D budget and worked to restore the research ecosystem and rebuild trust.
The ministry's goal for the new year is to secure world-leading science and technology and AI competitiveness. With the establishment of a ministerial meeting on science and technology and the National AI Strategy Committee speeding up policy execution, it aims to drive changes that the public can feel.
He said the priority is to realise an 'AI basic society' in which all people enjoy the benefits of AI. Baek said he would accelerate the expansion of K-AI's global territory and secure a world-class proprietary AI model within this year to promote AI transformation across core industries. He said AI livelihood projects would also increase public convenience.
The ministry plans to secure next-generation AI technologies, secure AI talent and provide close support for startup growth. It also plans to expand global market entry for a 'full-stack K-AI' ecosystem spanning semiconductors and AI.
It also pledged to build a foundation for science and technology innovation. The ministry will push ahead in earnest with K-Moonshot projects that take on national challenges and marshal national capabilities for a paradigm shift in science and technology through AI.
Baek said the government will focus on fostering next-generation technologies such as bio, quantum and nuclear fusion to secure new growth engines. He said it would strengthen the roots of innovation, including by legislating efforts to invest in basic research to ensure stability for basic research.
The ministry will also concentrate its policy capabilities on digital safety and balanced regional growth. It will build an institutional foundation to ensure security is recognised as a priority value in corporate management. It will stipulate CEOs' security responsibility in laws and impose punitive penalties on companies that repeatedly suffer security incidents. Baek said the government would also upgrade its security capabilities and pursue an all-out war against hacking.
It will also sharply expand the regional autonomous R&D budget and drive AI-based regional innovation by creating AI hub clusters for each wide-area region and 추진 large-scale R&D and demonstrations.
Baek stressed that 2026 will be a year of a major leap in which science and technology and AI change the nation's destiny and make people's lives richer and safer. He said the Ministry of Science and ICT will stand at the forefront of that change.