The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 5th it will hold the "2026 National Land and Transportation Data Utilization Competition" to discover creative ideas that combine data in the land and transportation sectors with artificial intelligence (AI) technology and to boost data use.
The competition will be held under the theme "Land and transportation innovation opened by data and AI." Korea Airports Corporation (KAC), Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), Korea Real Estate Board (REB), Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS), Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA), and The Korea Transport Institute (KOTI) will jointly host it.
The land and transportation data utilization competition is divided into: ▲ a policy and startup idea category to discover creative ideas from the private sector, and ▲ a product and service development category for entries submitted as prototypes to directly link to startup creation.
Any Korean national with interest in the land and transportation sector and a passion for problem-solving can participate individually or as a team of up to three. However, participation by civil servants and employees of public institutions under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is restricted.
The judging will consist of a document review and a final presentation review by a panel of industry-academia-research experts and practitioners, and a total of 10 teams will be selected.
The total prize money is 34 million won. The grand prize team will receive the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's award and 7 million won, and each of the eight excellence award teams and one special award team will receive the head of agency's award and 3 million won.
For winners (teams) preparing to start a business, systematic follow-up support for startups, such as startup mentoring and preferential interest rates, will also be provided.
The competition period runs from the 6th of this month to May 29.
Yoo Singeun, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) official in charge of informatization and statistics, said, "We hope a variety of ideas using land and transportation data and AI technology will lead to innovations in land and transportation services," adding, "We ask for strong participation from people interested in using data in the land and transportation sector."