Beyond Digital Transformation the Era of AI Transformation (AX) Begins

From December 6 (Wednesday) to December 8 (Friday) the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister: Yoo Sang-im) and the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (President: Hong Jin-bae) hosted the “2024 ICT R&D Week” event at the aT Center in Yangjae Seoul.

Now in its third year this event took place under the theme “The Era of AI Transformation (AX): Opening New Frontiers” featuring a total of ten sub-events.

AI transformation refers to the application of AI across various sectors including industry public services society regions and defense rather than being limited to specific fields.

Over time ICT R&D has worked to close the technology gap with leading nations such as the United States by reinforcing strategic investments to secure international leadership. It has supported policies and R&D aimed at enhancing international competitiveness in ICT along with AI transformation and public benefits.

The opening ceremony on the 6th included a symposium on the 2025 ICT R&D investment strategy and outlook for key technologies such as AI semiconductors quantum computing next-generation communications and cybersecurity.

The event also included an awards ceremony where organizations and companies that contributed significantly to AI transformation received recognition from the Minister of Science and ICT and the President of the ICT Planning and Evaluation Institute.

Additionally an information exchange session was held to discuss candidate projects for 2025.

The award-winning organizations and individuals along with interview details are as follows:

Minister of Science and ICT Awards

MI Cube Solution Funzin Allganize Lee Jung-myung (Research Director)
President of ICT Planning and Evaluation Institute Awards

SK O&S Superb AI CEO Kim Da-san Aimo Senior Researcher Choi Ji-hoon
MI Cube Solution CEO Park Moon-won a company specializing in smart factory solutions

MI Cube Solution specializes in “integrated and intelligent solutions for manufacturing information.” With an integrated MES solution as well as AI and digital twin-based intelligent solutions essential for smart factory projects the company has built about 700 smart factories. They have established MES solutions for major Samsung affiliates including Samsung Electro-Mechanics Samsung SDI and Samsung Biologics as well as food companies like Pulmuone Ottogi Nongshim CJ CheilJedang and Myungrang.

From the end of 2021 to last year the company showed an annual growth rate of around 10% with approximately 250 employees by the end of last year. The average age of new employees is 34.5 predominantly young adults. With about 40 employees in their in-house R&D institute MI Cube has been selected as a “youth-friendly small but strong company” by the Ministry of Employment and Labor for six consecutive years. They received an S-grade in work innovation last year and were recognized for their contributions to “job creation in the ICT sector” with a Minister of Science and ICT Award in 2018.

Kim Deuk-hwa CEO of Funzin – Cutting Decision-Making Time with AI

With the rapid advancement of AI warfare scenarios have also changed significantly. Funzin has developed a solution that enables commanders to make swift decisions during combat.

Typically when the enemy attacks it takes over 20 minutes to decide whether to respond as the allied forces need to assess troops weapons and surrounding conditions. Using AI these decisions can be made swiftly. Important weapons are equipped with sensors to quickly assess the number of available response weapons. AI and IoT integration reduces decision-making time to under one minute.

At the awards ceremony on the 6th Funzin CEO Kim Deuk-hwa stated “Our company develops and applies an AI-IoT solution that combines artificial intelligence with IoT.”

Countries worldwide including the U.S. military are adopting similar weapon systems that utilize AI and IoT.

Nurion CTO Dr. Lee Jung-myung – Developing a World-Class Elderly Care System

With a small 10x10cm electronic device placed near a person this radar-based device automatically measures body temperature pulse and breathing. The data is wirelessly transmitted to doctors or caregivers for remote monitoring making it highly useful for caring for the elderly or patients with dementia. The device protects personal information by blurring images to prevent facial recognition.

SK O&S CEO Huh Geun-man – Swift Natural Disaster Prevention to Minimize Damage

When a typhoon approaches Jeju Island SK O&S analyzes data using SK O&S’s system to determine the areas most likely to be affected. Over 2300 employees nationwide are mobilized to prevent greater damage and monitor public bus Wi-Fi quality.

Superb AI CTO Lee Jung-kwon – Cloud-Based Solutions for Digital Transformation

Lee Jung-kwon co-founder of Superb AI develops cloud-based business solutions to facilitate digital transformation for SMEs collecting and processing data for AI applications. He stated “We create manage and screen data for autonomous driving and this data is also used for crime prevention.”

Wesee ITech CEO Kim Da-san – Early Adoption of Relational Databases

CEO Kim Da-sans father recognized the importance of relational databases early on and founded the company 35 years ago. Wesee ITech has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge as a solution company specializing in big data and AI.

Senior Researcher Choi Ji-hoon – Shortening Product Certification Time

Senior Researcher Choi Ji-hoon of the Korea Information and Communications Technology Association (TTA) is developing security technology for identifying 5G-specialized network devices. The association’s testing and certification for electronic devices including smartphones greatly reduce the time required for manufacturers to obtain certification.

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