The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 8th that it will hold a government-wide public data utilization startup competition.
This competition is a program aimed at discovering and fostering ideas and creative and innovative business models that solve national and social issues using public data. Since the first competition in 2013, over 18,000 teams have participated, and 82 teams among the 137 award-winning entries have successfully launched startups.
This year's competition will select the final 10 teams through preliminary rounds conducted by 48 institutions, including central administrative agencies, local governments, and education offices from March to August, a unified final round in September, and a grand final in November. Awards will be given for each institutional sector based on rankings, including the President's Award and the Prime Minister's Award, with a total prize money of 100 million won.
Winning teams will receive startup-related financial consulting and business services from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the Korea Patent Information Service, the Korea Startup Promotion Agency, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Shinhan Card, Microsoft, SK Telecom, and others.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety noted, "This year, we plan to raise the prize money for the product and service sectors to encourage submissions of products and services utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology."