The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Science and ICT held the "civil-military technology cooperation pitch day" on the 24th at the Army Education and Training Command in Jaundae, Daejeon. The three ministries organized the event to verify industry-academia-research and development (R&D) outcomes in connection with military requirements and to expand the foundation for civil-military technology cooperation.
Pitch day is an event where innovative companies present business ideas, products, and technologies to investors and experts, and proceed with evaluations and investment matching. This year's event was launched for the first time to allow startups and small and midsize companies with innovative technologies to directly check the military's requirements and propose technologies and ideas. The government set up an official communication channel in response to private companies' calls to expand exchanges with the military.
Pitch day is expected to go beyond reviewing the applicability of civilian technologies to the military, lowering barriers to entry into the defense industry and expanding the industrial ecosystem.
At the event, attendees included Ministry of National Defense Vice Minister Lee Du-hee; Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) 1st Vice Minister Noh Yong-seok; Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) Director General for Research and Development Policy Kim Sung-su; Army Education and Training Commanding General Kang Gwan-beom; Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) President Lee Sang-chul; and Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development (KISED) President Yoo Jong-pil, along with more than 400 officials from related agencies and representatives from industry, academia, research institutes, and the military.
The program consisted of: ▲ signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) among grant-funded institutions ▲ presentations of outstanding technologies and consulting linked to military requirements ▲ technology demonstrations ▲ indoor booth exhibits. In particular, the military provided feedback on the presented technologies, focusing on applicability in real operating environments and areas for improvement.
On the day, the Army Education and Training Command, KARI, and KISED signed an agreement to expand technology exchange. Ten projects on unmanned mobile system technologies and products, selected through recommendations from KARI and KISED, were presented, and the military shared the results of its review of the technologies' usability. In addition, key demonstrations were conducted, including cooperative operation of unmanned mobile systems and AI-based reconnaissance and transport robots, and a variety of technologies were showcased through indoor booths with the participation of 25 corporations.
Ministry of National Defense Vice Minister Lee Du-hee said, "We will hold pitch day on a regular basis to spur private-sector participation in the defense industry and broaden the base of the ecosystem, while laying the groundwork for the military to use advanced technologies more quickly and effectively."
Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) 1st Vice Minister Noh Yong-seok said, "As the application of advanced technology accelerates, including the digital transformation of the battlefield, innovative corporations are emerging as key players in defense," adding, "Following this pitch day, MSS plans to host the 'defense startup challenge,' which supports open-innovation collaboration between the military and defense companies to expand entry opportunities for small and midsize companies and startups into the defense ecosystem."
Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) 1st Vice Minister Koo Hyuk-chae said, "Pitch day is the starting point of a virtuous cycle of self-reliant defense that applies domestically developed technologies to defense," adding, "We will expand the event into a platform that links advanced science and technology with defense, rather than making it a one-off."