Gu Hyeok-chae (구혁채), first vice minister of South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT, pledged to innovate science culture policy to boost public accessibility.

The ministry on Thursday held the 2026 Korea Science Festival with the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity and the National Research Foundation of Korea. The event at KINTEX in Ilsan was held in an integrated format with the Korea Science and Technology Exhibition.

Ahead of the opening ceremony, Gu joined a mentoring session on science and engineering career paths with students. He shared concerns and visions about career choices in an era of artificial intelligence-driven digital transformation and pledged to expand policies to encourage entry into science and engineering fields.

In welcoming remarks at the festival's opening ceremony, Gu stressed that science culture programmes across the country, including the Korea Science Festival, are an important foundation for nurturing science and engineering talent. He said the government would continue to innovate science culture policy so all citizens can easily access science anywhere in the country.

After the opening ceremony, an awards ceremony was held for teams that achieved strong results in the 2026 AI Co-Scientist Challenge competition, which explores AI's potential and limits as a research colleague. An exhibition and presentations of the winning teams' results followed.

The competition covered 2 themes: conducting science and technology research using AI and writing research reports, and developing AI agents to innovate science and technology research. A total of 409 teams competed, and 16 teams received awards.

The 2026 Korea Science Festival runs through April 26 at Hall 4 of KINTEX Exhibition Center 1 in Ilsan. People of all ages who are interested in science can enjoy the exhibits and hands-on activities for free.