South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) will hold the '2026 AI and Digital-Based Social Problem-Solving Challenge' to address social problems such as climate disasters and issues affecting regions and youth using AI and digital technology, they said on Thursday.

The event supports the public in proposing ideas to solve social problems and developing AI and digital services by using private cloud resources secured for responding to national crises.

The contest will run in two categories: service development and idea discovery. Participants in the service development category will implement their proposed ideas as AI and digital services such as mobile apps. The ministry plans to cover usage fees for one cloud provider among Naver, NHN and KT cloud services to support development during the application period.

It will also hold an offline expert mentoring event in October. Starting this year, it expanded support to include AI agent development tools on private cloud services and to allow service development using vibe coding.

In the idea discovery category, participants can submit digital service ideas in any format, such as a proposal including a user interface (UI). Among those who pass document screening, applicants who want it will receive support for matching with citizen developers, offering a chance to implement their proposed ideas directly.

Individuals or teams of up to 4 people can choose one of the two categories and apply online until Sept. 30. The ministry will conduct three rounds of screening from October to December and select 10 final winners at year-end. It plans to award 7 entries in the service development category and 3 in the idea discovery category, with total prize money worth 28 million won.

Winners of the top prize in each category will receive an award from the deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT. The top team in the service development category will also receive separate support of up to 2,000,000 won for costs to participate in a global citizen developer event.

The ministry explained that in a past contest, a flood response idea proposed in the competition was implemented as an actual service through public-private cooperation involving relevant ministries and agencies and navigation companies.

Hong Sung-wan (홍성완), director general for ICT policy at the ministry, said, "I hope we can see a variety of AI and digital services that solve social problems through active participation by the public with fresh ideas and development capabilities."