The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will begin accepting applications on the 25th for the 2026 AI City innovative technology discovery project to implement an "AI City" that applies artificial intelligence (AI) across urban administration and services.
The project is being promoted to apply and verify rapidly spreading AI technology in the urban field, based on public-private cooperative pilot experience accumulated through the innovative technology discovery project for Smart City promoted since 2022.
In particular, as the AI transformation accelerates across urban operations and citizens' daily lives, the focus is on piloting private-sector innovative technologies in real urban environments and expanding services that citizens can feel.
The call targets corporations that have AI technologies and services in the urban sector and will proceed by verifying technological performance and effectiveness in real urban settings in cooperation with local governments. The technology fields span urban areas closely tied to citizens' lives, including AI city infrastructure; transportation and logistics; safety and daily life; energy and environment; and health and education.
This year's project totals 3 billion won, and six technologies will be selected, with up to 500 million won in pilot funding per technology. Selected corporations will carry out pilot projects through December this year after contracting and will be able to secure sufficient pilot experience by operating services for a certain period even after the project ends.
Corporations wishing to participate can submit application documents from Mar. 20 to Mar. 30, and the final support recipients will be selected after document and presentation evaluations in Apr.
A project briefing session will be held at 2 p.m. on Mar. 4 at SpaceShare Seoul Station Center. Details can be checked from that day through the announcement posted on the websites of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA).
Kim Yeon-hee, head of the Urban Economy Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "This AI City innovative technology discovery project is expected to implement services that citizens can feel by applying excellent private-sector AI technologies to real urban sites, while providing pilot opportunities to corporations with innovative technologies to accelerate market entry at home and abroad and commercialization."