The Ministry of Science and ICT said on Tuesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with domestic AI and infrastructure firms and companies in mission fields such as advanced bio, materials and future energy on cooperation for the "K-Moonshot" drive strategy at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul.

K-Moonshot is a nationwide project to combine AI and science and technology to solve key national missions and accelerate science and technology innovation. It aims to bring together AI resources and research capabilities in science and technology to double research productivity by 2030 and solve 12 national missions in eight fields, including advanced bio, materials, future energy and physical AI, by 2035.

So far, 161 companies have expressed an intention to cooperate with K-Moonshot. The ministry said the agreement is the first implementation step to strengthen a cooperation system with industry, with Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon (배경훈) and about 50 people including representatives of AI and infrastructure firms and companies related to K-Moonshot's eight missions attending.

In AI models and agents, participants include LG AI Research, SKT, Upstage, Naver Cloud, NC AI, Motif Technology, KT, 42MARU, Nota, Liner and Asteromorph. In computing infrastructure, participants include LG Uplus, Elice Group and MangoBoost. In data, participants include Persona AI, Flitto, Megazone and Saltlux.

The ministry said it plans to build a "K-Moonshot corporate partnership" centered on 88 AI and infrastructure firms in areas such as AI models, computing and data among the 161 companies. The partnership will operate in three subcommittees for AI models, computing and networks, and data. It will pursue providing AI resources and technology cooperation, joint research and development and demonstrations, and building an AI-based science and technology ecosystem. Partner companies will be provided incentives such as research data and GPU infrastructure and support for follow-on commercialization.

Companies in mission fields will cooperate through mission-by-mission subcommittees of a "K-Moonshot promotion group" to be formed later, and will be linked with the corporate partnership.

At the event, state-run research institutes including the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information discussed cooperation measures for the successful 추진 of K-Moonshot. Participants agreed that capabilities and resources held by industry, academia, research and government must be quickly brought together as major countries such as the United States and China and global big tech companies race for speed in AI-based science and technology innovation competition.

Bae said now is a golden time to bring together national capabilities as AI goes beyond simple technological advances and fundamentally redesigns how science and technology research is done. He said he would 추진 K-Moonshot toward an "AI Apollo era" so South Korea can leap forward as a country leading future technologies.

The ministry said it plans to use the agreement as a starting point to fully operate the K-Moonshot corporate partnership and continue expanding public-private cooperation.