The Ministry of Science and ICT will build an industry-academia-research cooperation system to spread "autonomous laboratories" that automate experiments using artificial intelligence (AI) and robots.
The ministry said on the 11th that it held a launch ceremony for the "autonomous laboratory industry-academia-research council" at EL Tower in Seoul.
An autonomous laboratory is a research platform that automates everything from setting experimental conditions to execution and analysis by linking experimental equipment with robots and AI. When AI proposes a hypothesis, it is tested through experiments and the results are fed back into AI training in a closed-loop approach.
While autonomous laboratories are showing growing potential for use in a range of fields, including materials, bio, and pharmaceuticals, critics have noted limits to interconnection and joint use among autonomous laboratories in Korea because equipment, data formats, and operating methods differ by institution.
The council was formed to develop technologies, platforms, and standards related to autonomous laboratories and to promote shared use of research infrastructure, data accumulation, and corporate demonstrations. It also plans to discuss related policy tasks through regular meetings and an annual conference.
Chairperson Jeong Yu-seong, a Seoul National University professor, will lead the council, with the National AI Science Research Center (NAIS) and the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) serving jointly as secretaries. Key tasks include establishing standards for autonomous laboratory technologies and platforms, building a reference laboratory, conducting demonstrations with demand-side corporations, and expanding adoption in the private sector.
Park Systems and HB Solution, among equipment and solution corporations, as well as 50 demand-side corporations including the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and SK hynix, and more than 30 universities and research institutes will participate.
The ministry plans to link the council with "K-Moonshot," an AI-based research and development project driven by the government, to build an autonomous laboratory infrastructure and a data utilization framework.
First Vice Minister Gu Hyeok-chae of the ministry said, "We will support related systems and policies so autonomous laboratories can be used as research infrastructure that accelerates the speed of scientific discovery and verification."