ChosunBiz will host Korea's largest tech conference, SMARTCLOUD SHOW 2026, at the Westin Josun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, on Aug. 26. This year's event, under the theme "AI works the world," will bring together world-renowned scholars and industry leaders in Physical AI, security, Robotics, semiconductors, and space to present a blueprint for future industries transformed by artificial intelligence (AI).
Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and co-organized by ChosunBiz and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), the first keynote will be delivered by Abhinav Gupta, a world authority in Computer Vision, Robotics, and AI, co-founder of Skild AI (professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University). He will open the event with the theme "Any Robot, Any Task, One Brain." Founded in 2023, Skild AI is a global leading startup representing the Physical AI field, with a corporate value recognized at about 20 trillion won. Skild AI's core technology is the Robot Foundation Model (RFM), which serves as the brain that determines a robot's actions. Trained on massive data such as images, text, audio, and video, this model enables advanced tasks in which robots autonomously explore, manipulate objects, and interact with their surroundings. Notably, it features versatility applicable to all forms of robots, not just the Humanoid Robot. Global corporations such as SoftBank and Nvidia recognized this and moved quickly to invest. In April, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo visited Silicon Valley to discuss potential collaboration.
Recently, as the U.S. government restricted overseas exports of Anthropic's latest AI model "Mythos," national competitiveness and security surrounding AI technology have emerged as key issues. The second keynote, delivered by Microsoft (MS) Vice President Kim Tae-su (professor of computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology), will be on the theme "Threats from Mythos and Korea's response (working title)." Kim, a world authority in systems security and AI-based cybersecurity, led "Team Atlanta" to first place at the AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) hosted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 2025. Drawing on his experience winning the world's most prestigious competition for technologies that use AI to automatically find and patch software vulnerabilities, he will present security strategies for the AI era. In 2021, at age 36, Kim was appointed executive director (senior vice president) at Samsung Research, where he led AI and cybersecurity research.
Korea's leading AI and security experts will also take the stage. The third keynote will be delivered by Lim Hyo-joon, head of the Next-Generation Computing Lab at LG Electronics, on the theme "New challenges in the AI era: security for AI." Lim oversees research on AI, security, and next-generation computing technologies at LG Electronics and leads the development of security technologies to safely protect AI models and data and ensure reliability amid the spread of Generative AI. The fourth keynote will be delivered by Jung Seok-geun, head of the AI CIC (company-in-company) and CTO (chief technology officer) at SK Telecom, on the theme "From Korea to the world: AI infrastructure strategies that link intelligence production to global exports." Jung oversees SK Telecom's AI business and leads the government's independent AI foundation model project.
After the keynotes, a panel discussion will follow. Yoon Sung-ro, professor at Seoul National University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (former Chairperson of the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution), will moderate a conversation with co-founder Abhinav Gupta, Vice President Kim Tae-su, Lab Head Lim Hyo-joon, and CIC Head Jung Seok-geun on topics including technological competitiveness in the Physical AI era, AI sovereignty, security, and global cooperation strategies.
The first afternoon session will feature a keynote by Pekka Laurila, co-founder and chief strategy officer (CSO) of ICEYE, on the theme "Building sovereign intelligence for a new era." Founded in 2014 in Finland, ICEYE is a leading European satellite corporation valued at about 17 trillion won and one of the world's largest commercial SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite operators. It has launched a total of 76 SAR satellites to date. Based on SAR technology that can observe Earth regardless of weather or time of day, it operates a constellation of dozens of satellites and provides real-time satellite data across diverse sectors including defense and disaster response, maritime surveillance, and resource management. In particular, with the heightened importance of satellite intelligence in defense and security since the war in Ukraine, the corporation's value has risen significantly.
Next, Park Song, senior vice president and head of Cybersecurity AI Labs at SK shieldus, Gong Seong-bae, chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) at Megazone Cloud, and Park Won-gyu, senior executive vice president at Satrec Initiative, will share core technologies and industrial strategies for the AI era. Senior Vice President Park leads AI-based cybersecurity research at SK shieldus and oversees the development of security technologies using Generative AI and next-generation security services. Park will present security strategies that corporations should adopt in an era when AI is used on both offense and defense. CAIO Gong, a leading AI and cloud expert in Korea, has supported corporations in adopting Generative AI and in AI transformation. This talk will introduce cloud infrastructure build-outs and AI operations strategies for applying Generative AI to real-world work. Senior Executive Vice President Park will present new industrial opportunities created by AI and satellite data and the future of the space industry. Satrec Initiative is Korea's leading satellite specialist corporation and is targeting the global satellite market based on its independent Earth observation satellite development technology. Recently, as satellite image analysis technology using AI has expanded into defense and disaster response, Smart City, and resource management, satellite data has drawn attention as a core national strategic asset.
In the following special lecture, Park Jun-sik, Korea country manager at STMicroelectronics, will speak on the theme "Physical AI, Robotics, and the future of semiconductors." STMicroelectronics is a global semiconductor corporation leading in automotive and industrial semiconductors, sensors, and Power Semiconductor. Park will present the roles semiconductor and sensor technologies play as AI spreads to robots and industrial sites, along with key technologies and market outlooks in the Physical AI era.
The afternoon program will conclude with an open cloud session prepared by the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA). Lee Il-jun, director at NHN Cloud, will give a talk on "AI infrastructure and data centers," and Lee Hae-seok, vice president at Polaris Office, will speak on the theme "The end of SaaS (software as a service)? Now AI agents also work on the cloud." Shin Jung-gyu, CEO of Lablup, will also take the stage.
SMARTCLOUD SHOW 2026 will be a venue to survey the present and future of the AI industry in one place, from Physical AI and AI sovereignty to security, satellites, semiconductors, and the cloud. We look forward to your strong interest and participation in this event, where you can directly encounter insights from world-renowned scholars and industry leaders.
< event overview >
△ event name: SMARTCLOUD SHOW 2026 (16th SMARTCLOUD SHOW)
△ schedule: Aug. 26 (Wed.)
△ theme: AI works the world
△ venue: Grand Ballroom, Westin Josun Hotel, Sogong-dong, Seoul
△ host: Ministry of Science and ICT
△ organizers: ChosunBiz, National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA)
△ inquiries: event@chosunbiz.com
△ homepage: https://e.chosunbiz.com