The Ministry of SMEs and Startups selected South Gyeongsang Province, Daegu Metropolitan City, Ulsan Metropolitan City, South Jeolla Province, and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province as the five metropolitan local governments to participate in the "2025 region-led artificial intelligence (AI) great transition" project.
According to the ministry on the 1st, local governments will receive support for two years for customized AI utilization programs that they autonomously plan to fit regional characteristics through this project.
From Jul. 30 to Aug. 29, applications and submissions for business plans were accepted for one month, and 13 local governments applied. An evaluation committee composed of industry-academia-research experts evaluated the local governments' business plans and selected the final five local governments.
The ministry will provide about 7 billion won (within 60% of the total project cost) to the five selected local governments, and the local governments will match 40% or more of the total project cost, including SMEs' self-funded portions, to carry out the project. The same budget scale is planned for next year as well.
South Gyeongsang Province plans to distribute and scale AI solutions to three to five partner companies in the space-aeronautics, defense, and machinery industries. It will also push to build infrastructure for shared graphics processing units (GPUs) and for handling sensitive on-site data.
Daegu Metropolitan City will carry out eight leading AI model projects in manufacturing and process services by detailed segments of the auto parts industry. It will establish an AI innovation center in the Dongdaegu Venture Valley, which has strong accessibility and a high concentration of young entrepreneurs, to help local SMEs use the infrastructure.
Ulsan Metropolitan City will create a program to distribute immediately applicable AI solutions to SMEs in the auto parts, shipbuilding equipment, and fine chemicals industries. It will also set up a manufacturing AI innovation hub to help SMEs adopt AI technologies.
South Jeolla Province will conduct an in-depth diagnosis of the level of AI adoption among corporations in Jeonnam's key industries, including the materials, parts and equipment sector such as chemicals, steel, and ceramics, and will support the introduction of customized AI equipment and solutions.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province will build a leading AI great transition model ("AI+B") that links the core bio industry with AI and will develop and validate a bio big data-linked AI solution (LLM) to advance the Jeju biohealth cluster.
Minister Han Seong-suk of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, "We will continue to provide support so that more regional SMEs can adopt and use AI technology, leading to tangible results such as improved quality, higher productivity, and increased sales."