The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) said on Monday they will accept applications through July 28 for the 2026 Gyeongnam and Jeonbuk AI transformation (AX) research and development programme.

The programme is a physical AI R&D project promoted by the science ministry as part of its "three megaprojects for Korea's great leap forward." A total of 1.41 trillion won will be invested over five years from 2026 to 2030. It allocates 676.3 billion won to Gyeongnam and 736.8 billion won to Jeonbuk. The focus is on securing core physical AI technologies that train and verify AI models with real physical-environment data and link them to autonomous control of physical systems such as sensors, equipment and robots.

Gyeongnam will run a "global demonstration project to develop a human-AI collaborative physical intelligence action model (LAM)." It aims to secure ultra-precision control technology at the level of manufacturing processes. Using physics-informed neural network (PINN) technology, it will reflect physical laws such as thermodynamics and fluid dynamics in AI models. The goal is to build high-reliability converged data and LAM based on manufacturing-site data.

Jeonbuk will push a project to "build an R&D ecosystem for a collaborative intelligence physical AI-based software (SW) platform." It will develop an autonomous intelligent factory platform that connects and operates factories and logistics systems. It will pursue an AI autonomous factory operating system and software standardisation. It will create a testbed and an industry-academia-research joint research cluster near Jeonbuk Innovation City.

The science ministry will link the two projects to implement ultra-precision control of manufacturing processes and integrated operation of autonomous factories as a single physical AI platform. It plans to develop it into an "intelligent advanced K-AI factory package" and foster it as an export-oriented model.

The science ministry and NIPA will hold regional briefings to guide applicants in Changwon on July 8, Jeonju on July 9 and Seoul on July 10. The project notice and request for proposals are available on the IRIS website. The application deadline is 3 p.m. on July 28. A review of submitted documents is scheduled for the first week of August, followed by selection evaluations and agreements with R&D-performing institutions in the second to fourth weeks of August.

Park Tae-wan (박태완), director general for ICT Industry Policy at the science ministry, said, "Physical AI is a core technology that has newly defined the competitiveness of Korea's manufacturing industry, and this programme is the first starting point to realise 'physical AI,' one of the three megaprojects announced by the government, through specific R&D." He added, "By bringing together the innovation capabilities of industry, academia and research, we will create a K-physical AI-based manufacturing innovation model led by AI, from manufacturing processes to factory operations, and spread it to global markets to grow it into Korea's new export competitiveness."