[DigitalToday Jin-ho Lee] The National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) has fully overhauled its training courses for officials responsible for ordering public software (SW) projects to strengthen their ability to respond to AI, shifting them to a practice-focused format.

NIPA said on July 29 that it, together with the Ministry of Science and ICT, has reorganised its "training to strengthen public SW project ordering capabilities" into an AI and new-technology practical response format and began operating it on July 27.

The key to the overhaul is shifting from training centred on understanding existing systems to practice-oriented training, so ordering officials can directly plan, order and manage AI projects. It covers practical capabilities across the entire process, from planning and ordering to managing projects that apply new technologies, along with AI project ordering and the latest technology trends.

The curriculum is reorganised into three levels: basic, advanced and professional, reflecting the improved capabilities of ordering officials and higher project maturity. Some content previously covered in the professional course is expanded into the basic and advanced levels, and AI-related content is strengthened in the professional course.

The basic course covers core practical work across the entire project process, including project overviews and ordering procedures, writing requirements, contracts, inspection and acceptance, and performance management. It is structured around checkpoints and precautions that can be used in the field.

The professional course is operated as five courses that include strategy, budget and performance-based project planning, quantitative quality management, cases for deriving requirements for projects applying new technologies such as data platforms and cloud, identifying new AI projects and risk management, and the latest technology trends such as generative, agentic and physical AI.

The training is aimed at officials responsible for ordering SW projects at central government ministries, local governments and public institutions. It is also open to people from contract-winning companies participating or set to participate in projects. It is offered online and through on-site visits, and tuition is free. Online courses are available at any time through the SW Industry Information System.

On-site visit training is conducted after discussing the curriculum and schedule when there is demand for training for 50 or more people per institution. To expand participation opportunities for smaller institutions, NIPA is also 추진 integrated training by five regions: Seoul and Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, South Jeolla and North Jeolla, North Gyeongsang, and South Gyeongsang.

NIPA explained that about 4,000 SW project officials complete the training each year through online and on-site visit courses.

Kyung-rok Lee (이경록), head of the Software Convergence Division at NIPA, said on-site support and stronger ordering capabilities are important to successfully lead digital innovation in the public sector. He said he hopes the training overhaul will help improve the quality of public SW projects and support innovation in AI-based public services.