On the 13th, the artificial intelligence (AI) service corporation ESTsoft announced that it has won the Gwangju AI Academy project.
This project, valued at 9 billion won, is an AI professional workforce development program supported by Gwangju Metropolitan City, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea Information and Communication Industry Association, and the Artificial Intelligence Industry Convergence Business Group, and will be operated over two years until 2026.
ESTsoft won this project in the form of a consortium. The consortium, led by ESTsoft, includes Smart Talent Development Institute, the Korea Software Industry Association, and Naver Cloud, totaling four companies. The ESTsoft consortium was ultimately selected due to its excellent evaluations in educational operation experience and industry linkage capabilities.
Accordingly, the AI education project that ESTsoft is prioritizing is set to accelerate. This year, the ESTsoft consortium aims to operate the project with key objectives of an 80% employment and entrepreneurship rate, over 200 AI certification acquisitions, more than 25 AI projects involving medium-sized enterprises, and 100 internships linked to the Gwangju region. In particular, over 60% of graduates are expected to be nurtured as local talents that can settle in Gwangju, contributing to the creation of an AI business ecosystem centered around the AI Complex.
The curriculum consists of a total of 1,300 hours. It will be conducted in phases, including pre-learning (online pre-course), fundamental AI and core major courses (AI Build-Up), advanced major courses (AI Expert), and practical projects (AI Master). Additionally, this year, based on industry demand, it will add tracks such as AI Data and AI Business to the existing tracks of AI Modeling, AI Service, and AI Platform and Infrastructure. Moreover, project-based learning and expert lectures will also be supported in collaboration with major domestic and international corporations, including AWS, SK, and LG CNS.
Jung Sang-won, CEO of ESTsoft, noted, "Nurturing practical AI talents is a very important task to accelerate the growth of our country's AI industry," and added, "As a representative AI corporation in the country, we will carry out this project successfully with a sense of responsibility."