[DigitalToday Jin-ho Lee] South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Wednesday it will run a call for proposals for its "artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual convergence industry fostering" project through March 27.

The project aims to promote AI transformation (AX) in industrial sites and everyday life by combining AI and virtual convergence technologies. The call is divided into an industrial field and an everyday-life field, selecting 6 tasks in total, with 3 tasks in each field.

For the industrial field, it will provide about 700 million won per task per year, focusing on solving on-site problems and improving operating efficiency in areas such as logistics, manufacturing and energy management. Eligible projects could include solutions in which AI predicts bottlenecks in manufacturing processes in a virtual space, or virtually trial-runs a production line before new equipment is introduced to check for errors.

For the everyday-life field, it will provide about 600 million won per task per year. It targets areas with high public relevance, such as healthcare, tourism, medical services and interior design. It will select tasks under a new development track and a service conversion track.

The new development track selects services that apply 3D recognition technology and multimodal AI. The service conversion track supports converting existing models with proven marketability into AI and virtual convergence services. The scope of support also includes tasks that convert existing mobile apps or services for XR devices and add AI functions.

To take part in the call, AI and virtual convergence technology companies and service users must apply as a consortium. Selected consortia must conduct on-site stability verification in addition to service development. They must maintain and operate the service for at least 1 year after the project ends.

A project briefing will be held on March 5 at the LW Convention Center in Seoul. Detailed call information and application methods can be found on the websites of the Information Technology Industry Promotion Agency and the Korea Radio Promotion Association.

Nam Cheol-gi (남철기), MSIT's director general for software policy, said he hopes the combination of AI and virtual convergence technologies will help address problems faced by industrial sites and serve as a practical opportunity for AX.