The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) said on Apr. 1 that they had finally selected Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province and South Chungcheong Province as new metropolitan local governments to join the "2026 region-led artificial intelligence (AI) great transition" project.
The region-led AI great transition project mainly supports, for two years, AI utilization and diffusion programs designed by local governments to match industrial characteristics and demand.
In this public contest project, nine metropolitan local governments applied, resulting in high competition. A review committee composed of industry, academia, and research experts conducted document and in-person evaluations, and two local governments were selected in the end.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) plans to support the two selected local governments for two years at 7 billion won per year (up to 60% of the total project cost). The local governments will link more than 40% of the total project cost to carry out the project.
Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province formed a consortium of six institutions, including the lead agency Wonju Institute for Future Industry. It plans to build a Gangwon bio-healthcare AI ecosystem linked to the AI healthcare global innovation special zone and the bio national high-tech strategic specialized complex.
It will establish a public graphics processing unit (GPU) farm for the bio-healthcare industry and plans to enhance the competitiveness of regionally specialized SMEs and startups by supporting solution development and demonstrations according to levels of AI transition.
South Chungcheong Province formed a consortium of nine institutions, including the lead agency Chungnam Technopark. It will promote AI transition projects tailored to the characteristics of Chungnam's specialized industries, such as displays and semiconductors. It plans to advance manufacturing data infrastructure on an AI basis and build a GPU cloud platform and data hub to lay the foundation for an AI ecosystem.
Park Yong-sun, director general for SME Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "The core of the project is for the government to support projects planned by regions to establish a foundation for regional AI transition," adding, "We will do our best so that many regional SMEs can improve quality and productivity and achieve results that lead to securing corporate competitiveness, such as increased sales."